


History Rewritten

by KaramelHaven



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Daxam, F/M, House of El, KaraMel, Krypton, Prince of Daxam - Freeform, Season 2 Rewrite, The DEO
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-10-31 22:35:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 105,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10908840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaramelHaven/pseuds/KaramelHaven
Summary: An AU-Canon Divergent story.A Kryptonian pod and representative was on Daxam as it was being destroyed. A representative wearing the glyph of the House of El. Why risk his life to warn a "planet of hedonists" about the impending doom of Krypton? Perhaps the House of El were more involved with Daxam than it originally seemed.This sparked a notion of what Season 2 of Supergirl would be like if Kara had encountered and befriended the Prince of Daxam before their planets were destroyed. What would Season 2 be like if Kara knew Mon-El when she was a child? How would Mon-El deal with the little girl from Krypton being not-so-little anymore? How would the future turn out if history was rewritten with that little change?A Karamel story.





	1. Arrival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to be my attempt to rewrite the show with a "what if" scenario of if Kara had known Mon-El when she was a child. What would be different? How would their relationship progress given their history and memories of each other? 
> 
> There will be a very minor Kara/Jimmy at the beginning of the story, but this WILL be a Karamel story. I did not tag Kara/Jimmy because of that and because I didn't want to get any hate for tagging it when the story would not really be about that pair. But I wanted to at least warn that they will be featured just at the start, like in the episodes. 
> 
> I don't own Supergirl or the show or any of the characters or anything. This is just a little bit of fun :-)

Kara couldn’t help but smile as she looked around at all the people filling her loft, her family. It had been a good day for National City, for Supergirl especially. She had saved the day once again only this time it was different. Every other time she’d faced a threat, she’d always felt sure of herself, secure, safe in the knowledge that SHE was indestructible and could face anything. This time though, she’d actually been scared. Because the only way to save the world had been to truly risk her life by carrying a ship about to explode into space…where she’d have no control of her flying nor ability to breathe. 

She had really thought she was going to die saving the world.

Alex had saved her. Alex hadn’t been willing to let it happen and had risked it all to fly a Kryptonian pod up to her and get her back to Earth safely.

She was only here today because of her family and their support, which was why, when J'onn made to toast Supergirl as they celebrated, she had to stop him.

“To family,” she corrected with a soft smile, looking around at the family surrounding her. All of them were the reason she kept fighting. “Love bonds us all.”

Winn was the very first to agree, “To family!”

Followed quickly by James and the others.

James, now there was another victory for her. After so much pining and questioning, it seemed like she and James were finally getting their chance to be together. 

But, of course, as was her luck, just when things seemed calm and peaceful, it could never last as a loud crash sounded just outside.

“What was that?” Kara called, immediately turning to rush to the window of her loft and look out.

“I don’t know,” J’onn agreed as he hurried after her, followed by the others.

And right before their eyes, what looked like a comet streaked across the sky. But they all knew it wasn’t just a comet, it wasn’t breaking apart like a normal one would have before it even got through the atmosphere. The streak behind it was wrong. Which meant it was either some sort of probe or a pod of some kind.

“Nothing good,” Alex sighed, her voice toned low and all business.

Kara and J’onn exchanged a serious look before turning and hurrying out of the apartment, shifting into the Martian Manhunter and Supergirl as they went. They flew through the sky as fast as they could to reach where the object had crashed before anyone else could.

Kara nearly stumbled as she landed, shocked at what she was seeing. It was a pod, not some sort of piece of a satellite. But that wasn’t what had startled her…the pod was Kryptonian in design.

“That pod,” she breathed, taking a single step closer as J’onn landed beside her. “It’s identical to mine. It’s from Krypton!”

And she could see someone inside it! It could be another Kryptonian! Like her, like her cousin!

“Supergirl, be careful!” J’onn called as she ran towards it, his voice making her pause. “You don't know what's in there.”

Kara hesitated only a moment, sparing him a glance, before she steeled herself and leaned in to wrench the top of the pod away. There was a brief moment where she feared she would open it to find a skeleton or a dead body, just that last bit of hope of there being more of her people alive for it to be crushed again.

But what she saw inside was something unlike any she expected, and, at the same time, both amazing and horrifying to see.

“Oh my god,” she murmured as she stared at the man in the pod. “I don’t believe it.” 

Kara’s eyes trailed from his hair to his face, taking in every line of it, drifting to his red shirt and back to his face. She felt tears fill her eyes as she took him in, her heart racing at the implication of his presence and what it would mean. 

“Supergirl?” J’onn’s voice broke through her speeding thoughts as he moved beside her.

But Kara couldn’t even pull her gaze away, she couldn’t help it. She was sure, if she looked away, she’d wake up in her room with this being just another dream.

She blinked.

And he was still there. The smell of the burning grass around her, the feel of the heat from the fires around the ship telling her this wasn’t a dream. The pod had crashed, the man inside it was truly there. And she could utter only one word:

“Mon-El?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A super short chapter, I know. But I just wanted to get a little intro up there :-) I really just could NOT stop picturing what would happen if Kara knew Mon-El before the planets were destroyed. And then that led to wondering how Mon-El would react to the little girl from Krypton being grown up. How would that affect certain prejudices and arguments from the show? How different or similar would some situations be? It was a fun little idea that I just wanted to take a second to explore more :-)
> 
> I'm not sure how I'm going to break up the chapters yet. I might follow the episodes, rewriting them, or I might put original chapters in between. I also don't know when I'll be updating, but I'm going to shoot for three times a week. I also know that I won't be just posting like a novelization of the episodes. I would mostly focus on the scenes of Kara and/or Mon-El or redo scenes where they are talked about or something. I don't want to write out the entire episode, we've all seen them. So I want to just focus on the parts that would be different and HOW and so on :-)
> 
> This is the second out of two new stories that I wanted to post :-) I just couldn't decide which to post first so I thought I'd try both :-)


	2. A New DEO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've decided I'm going to do parts of episodes instead of trying to just rewrite an entire episode in one chapter. Some chapters will include "flashbacks" or just a moment of Kara and Mon-El before the destruction to show how they interacted on their planets and with each other. Those will be in italics :-)

It was a true testament to how shaken Kara was that she didn’t even comment on how the DEO’s new base of operations was open and spacious and not to be found through a cave. She almost couldn’t feel herself, she knew she was walking She could feel a pressure under her feet. But she was shaking too, minute trembles wracking her as she strode towards her sister.

“Where is he?” Kara asked the second she was near enough. “Where’s Mon-El?”

It had been a mess after the pod had landed. She and J’onn had tried to stop it crashing into anything or anyone and mostly succeeded. But it had drawn attention. There were fires to be put out and police to reassure. The DEO had stormed the place, confiscating the pod and strapping the man inside to a gurney to transport him to the nearest DEO location for examination. 

She’d been forced to stay behind with J’onn. There were humans around, scared and in need of someone they trusted to tell them it was ok. There were police reports to file, debris to collect that wouldn’t be done without a machine or superstrength. And all the while, she wanted nothing more than to have gone with him in the transport. Her mind had been filled with what ifs. What if he was injured? What if the DEO did something wrong? What if they tried to help him and made it worse? What if he woke up without her there? What if he…what if he died before she got back?

She needed to see him, make sure it WAS him, and that he was going to be ok. 

Alex gave her an odd look at her words. “This way.”

Kara followed her sister anxiously, only letting out a relieved breath when Alex led her into a room where Mon-El was resting on a bed, her ears picking up his beating heart before the monitors did.

He was alive.

He was ALIVE.

“He must have escaped before the planet exploded,” Kara murmured to herself as she stared at him.

He was alive, he’d survived the destruction. But HOW? WHY was he in a Kryptonian pod? How had he gotten to one? Her people had been too arrogant to try and create an evacuation plan, it was why she and her cousin were the only real survivors. And, even though she’d been a child, she couldn’t think of a reason why anyone would rush to Daxam to warn them about the planet’s doom instead of take that very pod and escape to space…

“He’s comatose,” Alex began as she side-eyed her sister, moving past her to put on a pair of gloves and grab a needle. “His vitals are stable. Breathing is normal. There's nothing else we can really learn from him because…” She stuck him with the needle, or tried to. But it merely snapped, unable to pierce his skin.

Kara couldn’t help the small smile as she saw that, at least on Earth he’d be as invulnerable as she was. She wondered briefly what other powers he’d develop. Daxam and Krypton were sister planets, Daxamites had evolved from a very, very distant Kryptonian ancestor, but they were different species by now. Would he have different abilities than she did?

Alex signed and pulled her gloves off, tossing them before she turned to face her sister, crossing her arms and giving her a look.

“What?” Kara blinked.

“You called him Mon-El,” J’onn’s voice called as he joined them, standing beside Alex to face her. “You know him?”

Kara swallowed hard, inwardly cursing for having let that slip not once but twice. “I did. I DO,” she corrected quickly, her gaze drifting back to the man on the bed. “Before Krytpon was destroyed…”

She debated what to say next, how to explain who and what Mon-El was, where he was from, without revealing too much. She really didn’t want to say though.

“Is he dangerous?” J’onn asked seriously.

“Mon-El?” Kara almost laughed at that. “Hardly.”

Her memories of Krypton and her childhood had faded somewhat with age, but there were few things and a few people she would never forget. Mon-El was one of them. She knew, from the moment she met him, he was one of the least dangerous people.

*************************************************************************************************************************************  
_“Father please!” young Kara begged as she gripped at her father’s sleeve. She had been looking forward to this moment, for her first trip off world for actual purpose other than fun, for so long! She had had to beg and plead with her parents for ages before they had agreed to let her accompany her father. And now he was ready to send her off!_

_“No, Kara,” her father said with a stern note in his voice._

_Had she been older or more observant, she might have noticed the two figures standing behind him, watching with a mixture of superiority, amusement, and boredom at the scene going on before them. Being but seven, her focus was on her father refusing her desires._

_“But you said…”_

_“You are too young to attend such a meeting,” her father cut in. “You will wait out here, with the royal guards, until our business here has been seen to. And that is final.”_

_Kara pouted at that, when a voice spoke up from behind her._

_“You can’t condemn someone so young to such boredom!”_

_Kara spun around, her little white dress whirling around her to see an older boy, not quite an adult but very close, standing behind her. He was dressed in a red shirt, grey jacket, and black pants, his arms crossed, amusement playing across his face as he smiled warmly at her, shooting her a conspiratorial wink._

_“Mon-El,” someone said behind her, but Kara was too busy studying the younger man, suspicion in her eyes._

_“I would happily offer to watch over her,” the boy, Mon-El, spoke to Kara’s father. “After all,” his gaze flickered to the two figures behind the man, “There is no pressing need for me to attend this meeting. Is there?” His expression was hard as he observed the two, before it softened as he glanced at Kara and then her father. “There are many more entertaining areas of the palace I could show her. The libraries, the gardens. She would be under the protection of the crown, as a visiting guest, of course.”_

_Kara’s eyes widened at the mention of gardens and she turned to her father with such hope and excitement on her face that the man signed. “If it would not be too much trouble.”_

_“Excellent!” the boy clapped, rubbing his hands together. “The guard will inform me when the meeting has finished and we shall return then.”_

_“Kara.” Kara instantly looked up at her father. “You are to be on your best behavior with the Prince, is that understood?”_

_It should have been impossible how much wider her eyes grew at the mention that the boy behind her, Mon-El, was the prince! “Of course, father.”_

_“Very well,” her father sighed, before he turned to follow the king and queen through the doors to the meeting chamber._

_“Well then,” Mon-El’s voice sounded behind her and Kara whirled around to see him step closer to her, moving to rest on one knee closer to her eye level. “I don’t believe we’ve been formally introduced.” He smiled at her. “I am Mon-El, prince of Daxam.”_

_Kara glanced down at his extended hand, almost surprised he would offer it to her. She’d heard that all Daxamites were rude and looked down upon Kryptonians. So far…this one seemed…nice?_

_“Kara,” she squeaked out, suddenly feeling shy without her father there. That thought struck her and she quickly puffed out her chest, standing taller and shoved her own hand out to him, remembering she was there to represent Krypton. “Kara Zor-El of the House of El.”_

_Mon-El chuckled warmly, retracting his hand just a little to shake hers instead. “Pleasure to meet you, Daughter of Krypton.”_

_Kara giggled as he turned her hand to the side and gave her a tiny kiss on the back of her hand. She’d read a little bit about Daxam on the ride over. That was the proper greeting for men to give to women in the court._

_“Are you really the prince?” Kara eyed him as she pulled her hand away._

_“I am.”_

_Whatever reaction he was expecting, it probably wasn’t for her to cross her arms and stomp her foot while shouting, “You’re shirking your duties mister prince!”_

_Mon-El’s eyebrows went to his hairline. “Excuse me?”_

_“If you’re the prince, you should be in there!” She pointed at the door her father had disappeared through. “My father is here to meet with the royal family to discuss politics!”_

_Mon-El moved back just a little, as though thrown by her ire, and glanced up at the few guards remaining that had started to step closer, two even drawing their weapons for what the little girl had said and how she had “insulted” the royal family with her words to him._

_Mon-El quickly held up a hand to signal them to stop. “Leave us,” he ordered._

_And, of course, the guards listened to him about as much as he listened to his parents. Which was not at all._

_He nearly dropped his head. Of all the times to try and order the guards to do anything, he had to choose to do it when a little Kryptonian girl, who was already exhibiting the characteristic superiority of her species, was standing right there. He quickly stood, turning to address them. “We are going to visit the gardens. You can either continue to follow us and leave the king and queen unprotected. Or...” he gestured at the doors._

_THAT got them to stop._

_He might not have any actual power on his planet, not as the prince, not till he was king, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t learned how to get around that._

_Mon-El gave them a nod as the men and women stepped back into place guarding the doors, before he turned to head off._

_“This way,” he called to Kara when she hesitated to follow, smiling to himself when he heard her small shoes tapping on the floor to catch up with him._

_The walk was quiet as he led them through the twisting halls of the palace until they stepped through an archway and into the greenest garden Kara had ever seen, filled with so many different types of flowers and trees she couldn’t even begin to count them._

_“Welcome to the royal garden of Daxam,” Mon-El introduced, moving further in and guiding her to a spot where a large tree with branches shaped like an upside down U was growing, the thin strips of branches decorated with flowers, creating a canopy around the tree. He plopped down right at the base of it, right in the grass and dirt, tossing a pebble he’d picked up into the small pond just before them. “Joining me?” he asked as he glanced at the girl just standing there._

_“Shouldn’t a prince not get his clothes dirty?” Kara frowned at him. “Mother says I should always try to keep my clothing clean…” She glanced down at her white dress._

_Mon-El merely took off his grey jacket and set it down beside him, patting the top of it for her to sit beside him without fear of soiling her clothing. “I won’t tell if you won’t.”_

_Kara hesitated a moment, eyeing him once more. That was…considerate. Daxamites were supposed to be selfish, weren’t they?_

_She was sort of tired though, so she stepped closer and plopped down on the jacket, folding her legs beside her like her mother had taught her a lady should do._

_“Want to hear a secret?”_

_Kara nearly jumped at Mon-El’s words, the man tossing another stone into the pond. She nodded, feeling a little excited to hear a secret._

_Mon-El chuckled. “I AM shirking my duties.”_

_Kara frowned. “That’s not very nice.”_

_“Oh trust me,” Mon-El reassured her. “Those meetings are SO boring. I really would rather babysit a Kryptonian toddler than be forced to sit through one of those again.”_

_“I am NOT a toddler!” Kara shouted, crossing her arms petulantly. “I’m seven!”_

_“My apologies to the lady,” Mon-El teased, amused by her mini-tantrum._

_Kara gave a firm nod and stuck her nose in the air, lowering it only when he’d thrown another rock into the pond. “Are politics really boring?”_

_“Oh, REALLY boring.”_

_Kara fell silent as she watched him continue to flick rocks in. Something about how he’d said that didn’t really say “it’s boring” to her, but something else. She just…didn’t know what._

_“We sit there and listen to the king and queen talk at the emissaries. And they argue. And then the king and queen send them away. They leave. And nothing changes.”_

_He sounded sad now, Kara felt. Sad and…something else._

_“It’s boring when you can’t do anything,” Mon-El continued, seemingly lost in thought now. “When you can’t talk. You just…sit there.”_

_“But you’re the prince!” Kara cried. “Aren’t people supposed to listen to the prince? And they’re your mother and father. They'll listen to you.”_

_Mon-El looked over at her, the smallest of smiles on his face. He seemed amused but the way he looked at her was sort of sad too._

_“To be young and see the world with hope,” he muttered, making her frown. “I will pray to the gods you never lose that. It’s a refreshing thing to encounter.”_

_And it was, it was refreshing to see someone that viewed the world so simply, with such faith, with such innocence. She really thought his parents would listen to him, because he was their son. She really thought his people and subjects would do as he said just because he was the prince. It wasn’t like that at all, but it was…nice to hear someone actually startled it wasn’t like that._

_Mon-El held out his hand to her, a small pile of little pebbles in it and offered her one with a nod to the pond for her to toss it in._

_The conversation soon turned, as it tended to do with a young child around, to naming the different flowers around them, and then stories about the garden, and other places in the palace to visit, much lighter topics._

_Until it was time for Kara to leave, though she’d promised herself she’d have to come with her father on his next trip to Daxam. She had made a new friend there._

*************************************************************************************************************************************  
Just meeting Mon-El, how he’d been so considerate with her, how he’d looked out for her and humored her, put up with her questions and laughed instead of getting mad at her. She’d known right from the start that he was a good person. Sad, but kind in her childlike eyes. 

Being the heir to the House of El, until her cousin had come along, meant she’d been groomed as a child to be ready to take up the mantle of matriarch of the family. She’d followed her father around with a keen interest in politics when she’d been a child, seeing how he handled situations and so many other things with such integrity had made her want to be the same. 

She could remember the trips he would take to Daxam, for some political reason or another, and had begged to join him. She’d thought it would be an amazing experience…but hadn’t counted on the fact that he’d taken her along just to humor her, seeing her as too young to really help and not wanting her to have to hear some things that would be discussed with the king and queen of the planet of hedonists. When she’d first realized she wouldn’t actually be allowed to participate or even listen in, she’d feared the trips would become boring and tedious, with her only option being to count the tiles that made up the mosaics or something.

She hadn’t expected Daxam’s own Prince to offer to look out for her while his parents discussed politics. 

And it didn’t stop with just the first visit. Even as they both grew older, she never once felt unsafe with him. He was always the first to offer to look out for her while the “grownups talked.” And he was polite and courteous around her. He showed her the Dragons they played Garata with, the gardens, the library, the artwork. He told her stories and jokes and he never made her feel like she was stupid when she asked questions. He never insulted her or her people. He was just…Mon-El. He was a person. Even if he sounded a little sad most of the time before they would start to talk and just before she’d have to leave. He was nothing like the Daxamites her parents complained about constantly. He was funny and kind and…handsome.

Kara flushed at the memory of her little 12 year old self and the small crush she might have had on the Prince. But hey! Earth girls did the exact same thing! They had crushes on older men too, boy bands and actors and real princes. It was normal. Completely normal. And it was YEARS ago! She’d gotten over it. Completely over it. Of course she had. Totally over it. That was her!

“But he isn’t human,” J’onn reminded her, pulling her from her thoughts. “And this is a planet with a yellow sun. We can’t know if he might be unintentionally dangerous to the humans.”

Kara had to concede to that, what with the powers the yellow sun granted them.

“We can use Superman as a template,” Alex began to theorize.

But J’onn shook his head. “Superman grew up on the planet from an infant. That would affect anyone’s physiology. I’m afraid we don’t know what we’re dealing with here.”

Kara had to blink at that, startled at how…easy it was. She’d just mentioned knowing him before Krypton was destroyed and they just…assumed…he was from Krypton too. But then J’onn’s words caught up to her. “Are you saying you think he might be stronger than Superman?”

“I don’t know what he’ll be,” J’onn countered. 

“Sir, I would request that Winn help with the examination,” Alex began. “With the chaos caused by the crash, our resources are going to be stretched covering it. Winn can handle the information we gather from the ship and monitors.”

J’onn sighed, “You want to prove your worth, Mr. Schott? Find out something my team of highly trained alien experts can't.”

“Challenge accepted!” Winn, who had been lucking about by the door, out of the way, beamed.

“Let’s go,” J’onn called as he led Winn out of the room.

Alex let out a relieved breath at that. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to get Winn involved, but there was really nothing much else to know about this Mon-El character at the moment. Kara knew him, trusted him, he was from Krypton, and unconscious. But it was a win-win. If he managed to find something else out about the man, that was good. If not, he was at least out of the room which had been her goal all along.

Alex looked over at Kara, seeing her sister already at the man’s side, reaching out to rest her hand on top of his. She couldn’t help but watch Kara for a moment or two. She knew her sister, the way she spoke, how she’d held herself before, she was more focused on getting to see this Mon-El than she was on calming the crowd of scared humans.

There was something else going on here, Kara clearly knew more about the man than she was saying.

If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought Kara and the man had been a pair on Krypton. The frantic way her sister had demanded to see him, how she hadn’t looked away from him since entering the room, how she was holding his hand now…But it was impossible. Kara had been barely 12 when she’d lost her planet. This man was clearly at least twice that age. She knew Krypton did NOT support relationships like that. So what was it?

She really hated being both a scientist and a big sister at times like this. The scientist in her wanted to ask questions and get answers. But the big sister could see Kara was really shaken by this man’s arrival and didn’t want to put any more concerns or worry on her.

No, now was a time for big sister to provide reassurance and distraction.

“So, are you watching the Venture launch tonight?”

Kara didn’t even look at her as she answered. “No, actually, James and I are going on our first date.”

Alex couldn’t help but glance from where Kara’s grip on the man’s hand had tightened just a fraction.

“It's gonna be great,” Kara continued, finally looking away from the man if only to check one of the monitors near him. “We are finally both free and clear to just hang out. No aliens trying to destroy the Earth. Just him and me, together like normal people, doing what people do on dates.”

Alex nodded slowly at that. “Ok…”

The tone of her voice seemed to be enough to get Kara to look at her instead now. “What?”

“What, what?” Alex shook her head.

“You're doing that thing where you say ok but you're not actually ok.”

Alex couldn’t help the small laugh at that. “Because you're doing that thing where you are super overeager, which means that you really aren't, but you're trying to convince yourself that you are.”

Kara let out an almost offended scoff. “I am not doing that thing. That's…I'm excited! This is me excited!”

Alex could only lift an eyebrow at that, clearly not believing her. It was sort of hard to believe Kara was THAT eager for the date…when she still had yet to let go of this Mon-El’s hand. She may not have the best advice or experience with dating, but death gripping another man’s hand while talking about dating someone else didn’t bode well.

Kara nearly jumped when she felt something vibrate against her hip. “And this is Ms. Grant texting me,” she added, pulling out her phone. “I'm not her assistant anymore,” she muttered as she checked the message. “I have to go.”

Alex nodded, stepping back and waiting…but Kara just stood there. She almost smiled when she saw Kara bite her lip and glance back at Mon-El, clearly torn. “I thought you had to go?”

“Shut up,” Kara mumbled. “I just…” She struggled to find the words. 

Normally it wouldn’t be so hard to leave and go do her job, but…this was one of the few people she actually KNEW from before Kyrpton’s destruction, one of the people she’d thought had died during it…and he was there. He was alive. HOW was she just supposed to leave? This was like one of her dreams coming true, to have someone she knew survive and find her. Even if he wasn’t Kryptonian, he was still someone she considered a friend, someone she had been devastated to lose when she’d gotten to Earth. He was right there, real and solid and alive and she was just supposed to…go?

Kara looked over when she felt Alex gently touch her shoulder. “Go,” her sister urged her. “I’ll be here, pretty much all day and probably well into the night. I’ll keep an eye on him.”

“And…and you’ll call me the second…”

“He shows any signs of waking,” Alex agreed. “I’m really glad you found someone that survived, Kara. I wouldn’t NOT want you to be here when he wakes up. I don’t think he’d want to wake up without a friendly face around either.”

Kara laughed slightly at that. She honestly wasn’t sure how friendly a face he’d see in her now. God she wanted him to wake up so desperately, partly to see he was ok and…partly to apologize. She had seen the bits of Krypton destroying Daxam from her ship and had been gutted to realize he was there and likely no one had warned them about Krypton.

Would he wake up and be relieved to see her? Would he wake up and hate her for what her people did to his planet? Would he even recognize her? He knew her from when she was a child, from the few random visits twice a year to Daxam. 10 trips at most, 10 visits, 10 meetings. Would he even still remember her?

She was praying he’d wake…and terrified that he would.

“Thanks,” was all she could offer her sister.

“Now go, before she hires you back as her assistant just to fire you,” Alex teased.

Kara’s laugh was a little more genuine as she turned and headed out, that was something Cat Grant would do. 

But she paused as she stepped out of the door, glancing back once more at Mon-El, unable to help the small smile that made its way to her face.

Whether he woke up and hated her or not…he would wake up, he’d be alive, and that would be enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if Mon-El sounds like Mon-El in the flashbacks. But I feel like he'd act/speak differently on his actual planet and being a few years younger than on the show, without having experienced the trauma of losing his planet and coping with that, on top of Kara being a child in the flashbacks instead of a grown woman. I feel like he'd act and speak just a little differently with a child present.
> 
> I've never rewritten an episode of anything before. I'm going to try and keep it from being a novelization of the episodes, but there are probably going to be some dialogue and action that will be the same. I'm going to try and keep it fresh with new perspectives and twists to them, new outlooks and added inner thoughts/flashbacks/dialogue though. 
> 
> I hope you're enjoying it so far :-)


	3. Arrival of Superman

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure when this will show up, but I had a really early morning for work so I thought I'd post it before I head off ;-)

It was the first time Kara had ever hated the fact that her cousin was a journalist. There had been a ship crashing, with people inside it, danger and destruction on the horizon. She’d stepped out away from Mon-El for a brief moment to meet with Ms. Grant, to discuss her career options, and...had to actually remind herself to go to her loft and prepare for her date with James. Guilt gnawed at her for that. She’d been halfway back to the DEO, concerned about Mon-El who had yet to wake up, when she remembered the date. The date she’d repeatedly told Alex she was excited to go on. The date she’d actually taken a second to consider cancelling what with the new alien being held at the DEO. 

But she’d shaken herself from those thoughts and reminded herself that Alex was there and she HAD been looking forward to dating James for…ages…and she owed it to them to not cancel. 

Did it make her a terrible person that a small, small part of her was relieved when a ship was crashing and she had to depart as Supergirl to save the day?

It probably did.

But lives were in danger and destruction was going to be imminent if she didn’t go right that second. An added bonus was that Clark had joined her! They’d saved the day, of course they had, two supers against one crashing ship was nothing.

She’d actually been content to thank him and invite him to her apartment later to hang out with her and Alex and some friends as Clark…but he’d asked her about the pod that crashed in the city. It had been all over the news that an alien pod had been taken for containment. Clark knew the DEO would do it and he’d clearly recognize the pod’s structure from the few pictures that had leaked that it was Kryptonian in design. He’d wanted to check out the survivor and she’d had no excuse to give him to say no.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want him to come to the DEO or look at Mon-El, it was just…ok, so she really didn’t. There had always been a deep-rooted dislike, some would say hate, between Krypton and Mon-El’s planet of Daxam. And even though she knew Clark had been raised on Earth and hadn’t been exposed to all that prejudice, a part of her worried that he’d been influenced by the records kept in the Fortress. SHE knew Mon-El and where he came from, and even she had a hard time looking past all of it to just see him. Things she’d learned as she grew up on Earth brought up memories and lessons she’d had of Daxam and there were times her view of Mon-El had shifted and come back and changed and she…she really wasn’t sure who and what she’d see when he woke up. If SHE struggled with that, having actually gotten to know him (as best as a 12 year old could), how would Clark?

It was one reason why she hadn’t said that Mon-El was from Daxam. The second she said that planet, Winn would be too eager to learn everything he could about it…from the Kryptonian records which did not paint the planet in any kind of good light. He wouldn’t be able to hold that information back, not at the DEO, and everyone would know about what Kryptonians thought of Daxamites.

She didn’t want it to color everyone’s view of Mon-El, to make assumptions about him based on his planet instead of who he was. Looking back at herself, how she’d thought of Daxamites, how conflicted it was with what she remembered of Mon-El? She liked to think of Kryptonians as great and wonderful people, but the second Daxam was brought up it made it hard to feel that way. She could see, having been on Earth and witnessing how humans acted, that it was prejudice. She didn’t want to be like that, she didn’t want to be the sort of person who just wrote someone else off based on rumors and some sort of skewed view of what they were.

And a part of her just kept circling back to him being alive. And it just reminded her WHY that fact hit her so hard. Because it meant his planet was destroyed just like hers. He had lost his entire planet. For all she knew he’d been in a coma the entire time and he may not even know Daxam’s fate. Her gut twisted painfully at the thought of him waking up to the knowledge of his home being gone on top of others around him treating him like the scum Kryptonians thought Daxamites were. To have endured that horror and have everyone just needlessly looking down on him? It broke her heart to think of that. No one deserved to be treated poorly after suffering such a profound loss. No one.

Granted, she didn’t even know that much about him or the sort of person he might have been when she wasn’t around. She’d heard some rumors, she could base it on what she knew and remembered as a child. But…she didn’t really know him that well either. She didn’t want to say something wrong and have the DEO think she was compromised or lying to them. But she also didn’t want Mon-El to wake up and think she was ashamed of Daxamites and that’s why she “lied” about how she knew him. It was a complicated mess that left her feeling all kinds of queasy.

On top of that, she didn’t know what J’onn might know about Daxamites either and she didn’t want to find out.

What’s more…it wasn’t her right to tell them everything about Mon-El. It was his life, his planet, his customs, his story, not hers. She wanted to hold off as long as possible saying anything, at least till Mon-El had woken up. She knew enough to know he wasn’t a threat to Earth or the DEO and that was enough to clear her conscience of not telling them he was from Daxam. If Mon-El chose to tell them, that would be his choice of what he told and how much he wanted to share. It wasn’t her place to blurt all of that when he wasn’t conscious to tell her what he wanted people to know or not. The DEO wasn’t entitled to anyone’s story unless that person wanted to share. 

Her efforts to try and offer Mon-El some form of control, which she knew would be very important to him once he woke up and she…she had to tell him about Daxam, might be for naught though. Because off course the simple trip for her cousin to stop by and just check on their new visitor HAD to come with complications, both in the form of hero-worship by others over her cousin…and her cousin’s own seeming dislike of J’onn and vice versa.

Things could never be simple.

“He landed on Earth last night in a Kryptonian pod,” Kara began as she led Clark into the examination room.

“And his name is Mon-El,” Alex added as she stood with her arms crossed, noting a reading from one of the monitors, keeping her promise to watch over the man for Kara.

Clark blinked at that. “How…”

“Kara knew him on Krypton.”

“You did?” Clark spun around to look at Kara. “Is he related to us?”

“No!” Kara said, almost too loudly, actually making Alex jump. “I mean. No. He’s…he’s not from the House of El.” She moved over to the man on the bed, reaching out to touch his shoulder, relieved to feel he was still warm and not overly hot or cold. “It’s just a coincidence. His name.”

“So I take it you didn’t need to use a Quantum scan to determine his age?” Clark asked, trying to cut what felt like an awkward tension.

“We did,” Alex corrected. “With him still appearing the age Kara remembered, we couldn’t be sure if he’d aged past that. He’s 25 by our data.”

A small voice in Kara’s mind whispered how they were the same age now.

She shook it off firmly.

“I also X-ray-visioned him for any cybernetics,” Kara added, needing to get back on a more technical view of the situation. It HAD been one of the first things she’d done when she’d seen him in the pod, x-ray-visioned him for any fractures or broken bones or injuries she’d need to tell the DEO about. Nothing.

“So!” Winn’s voice rang out as he ambled into the room, holding up a small electronic datapad. “My handy translator just finished decrypting the pod's data log. Now, it seems sleeping beauty, on his journey from Krypton, passed through something called the Segara Beyal.”

“The Well of Stars,” Kara recalled. “My father took me there once. Time doesn't pass there. So that's why he's still so young.”

“Oh!” Winn spun to face Clark. “Oh, hey, speaking of age, I've been meaning to ask. Superman, you're 12 years older than Kara, right? Cause you do not look it.”

“Kryptonians age at a much slower rate here on Earth,” Clark explained.

“You look fantastic.”

Kara rolled her eyes at that. If one more person ended up enamored with her cousin she was going to punch something.

“When you're finished,” J’onn’s voice cut in as he appeared in the doorway. “We have something more important to talk about.”

“What?” Kara asked, pulling her hand away from Mon-El’s shoulder. Her gaze flickered to one of the heart monitors, swearing she’d heard a skip in the beat at that before shaking the thought off.

“The Venture,” J’onn remarked. He turned as though he were about to leave the room when something caught his eye. 

Kara’s hand has shifted to Mon-El’s forearm and was squeezing it so tightly her knuckles were turning white. A quick glance at the girl revealed she didn’t seem to realize she’d done it, her attention was focused on him. But he’d seen the minute shift of her hand when he’d moved to leave. He could recognize that action, he’d seen it on Mars enough times, on Earth too. It was the action of someone that did not want to leave the side of the person they were with.

He let out a long breath, nearly hanging his head in exasperation. He was going to have to speak to Pam in HR and see what forms might need to be drawn up if two aliens began something in the DEO wasn’t he? 

He may not be able to read Kara’s mind, nor the mind of her companion, but he wasn’t blind nor was he stupid. The way Kara had been acting since opening the pod wasn’t like anything he’d seen from her. Part of him hoped he was wrong, the father-figure in him not wanting to think of a person he considered a daughter reaching that point in her life. Another part looked at it realistically and from the point of view of an alien from a dead planet and people. A Kryptonian had just discovered another of her species, alive, and wasn’t alone anymore. 

“The company behind the Venture said there was an explosion when the ship reached low orbit insertion,” J’onn continued, deciding to remain in the room, though he did cross his arms in his signature pose.

“So?” Kara asked.

“Well, if something like that was gonna go wrong it would've happened earlier in the flight,” Clark reasoned.

“Exactly. The Venture was built here in National City. I think we should investigate this further.”

“Maybe a mild-mannered reporter should make some inquiries while he's here in National City?” Clark offered.

“Actually, I was gonna have my team take a look at it.”

Kara glanced between the two men, frowning as she sensed the familiar nearly-hostile tension rising. “Well, Superman's here,” she tried to diffuse the situation. “We should include him. You can work out of Catco. Just steer clear of Ms. Grant. She's been in a mood.”

“Don't worry, I've got some sway with Cat Grant,” Clark reassured her.

Kara nodded, casting one more glance back at Mon-El before sighing and heading out of the room, leading Clark off.

“So where is he really from?” Clark asked as they walked through the DEO.

Kara stopped, causing Clark to walk on a few steps before he turned around. “How…how do you…”

Clark chuckled and tapped his ear. “I heard your heart rate pick up when Alex mentioned knowing him on Krypton. And you never agreed.” He crossed his arms mock-parentally. “So?”

Kara hesitated, biting her lower lip a moment. “It’s…it’s not my story to tell. And it’s not my life to divulge.”

Clark nodded understandingly. “I get it. He was a friend?”

“Yeah,” she agreed, her voice quiet. “I consider him one.”

“And he’s not dangerous?”

“I don’t think he is,” Kara answered as honestly as she could. “Superpowers and all…” She shrugged. “But I really don’t think he’d ever hurt someone on purpose.”

“Ok.” Clark nodded. “One more question.”

“Shoot!” Kara smiled at how understanding and cool her cousin was being about this. How he was trusting her with this.

“You’re prepared for the consequences?”

“What?”

“Things’ll get awkward when they find out you didn’t tell the whole truth,” Clark explained. “And if you’re wrong about him, it’ll be worse. You need to really think about if your reasons for keeping quiet are worth it if he’s not who you think he is.”

Kara was silent a few minutes, considering his words. She had put her faith in people knowing less about them than she did Mon-El and it had both blown up in her face at times and at other times been better than she expected. And that was just it, wasn’t it? She knew enough about Mon-El to be able to say she’d take whatever consequences came from it. Sometimes she put too much faith in others, but she had known him through her childhood, had gleamed things about him when it was just the two of them, enough to know it was worth it.

“I am.”

“Then I’m on your side, cuz,” Clark determined.

“Thanks,” Kara whispered.

She couldn’t help but think about what might actually happen when Mon-El woke up, if he did decide to reveal he was from Daxam, what J’onn and Alex would think of how she’d kept the truth from them. She was glad that her cousin was on her side in this, because she was starting to worry that her sister wouldn’t be.

More than anything, she really hoped Mon-El’s awakening would go smoothly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to explore a little more about Kara's reasons for not clarifying Mon-El was from Daxam. Even being a journalist and wanting to expose the truth, this is something different to her. This isn't her story to tell and Mon-El isn't conscious to give his consent to her telling it for him. If the others find out on their own it's one thing. But it's not like an interview where she can report what she's told, it's someone's life and it's someone's life that has lost all control of it now with his planet being gone. I think Kara would wait till he woke up to let him tell as much as he feels comfortable telling.
> 
> But I also think Clark could tell she was lying. Alex might have picked up on something odd, but she's not fully aware that it's a "lie." To her there is no reason for Kara to lie about anything, so she's not looking for a lie. Clark can hear what the others can't and would notice something humans couldn't tell.
> 
> I also wanted to explore if Kara would still hold the same prejudices as in the show. I felt like, with her being more aware of everything Mon-El lost in the destruction, she wouldn't want him or anyone to experience more negative treatment from a prejudice. In the show, she was blindsided by him being Daxamite and it seemed like she forgot everything he'd been through and lost :-( Here, being even a little closer/familiar with him, I feel like she'd want to protect him from that a little more and be more mature in how she handles it :-)
> 
> I'm also quite excited for the next chapter. I can say it'll be original and will give some more background to why Kara seems to not want to be with James after all that pining. Or at least my analysis of her reactions, responses, and what she's shown through the show for what I think the relationship didn't really take off :-)


	4. One-Way Conversations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This may be a bit of a strange chapter. The title sort of hints what the majority will be, so I'll preface it by adding Kara will be imagining the responses to her talking. I did that because I didn't want the chapter to just be Kara having a giant monologue, I wanted to break it up just a little more so it wasn't too tedious :-)

Kara sat on a small stool beside Mon-El’s bed, her hands fidgeting in her lap as she stared at the monitors beeping in time with his heart. He still wasn’t awake and she was afraid that maybe there was something else wrong with him that was keeping him asleep. Something her x-ray vision had missed. If he was anything like her, the yellow sun should have sped up the healing process and he should be awake now. 

Realistically she knew she was likely just being impatient.

“I went on a date.”

She nearly choked on air as she realized she’d said that out loud.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized instantly, even though she didn’t know why. It wasn’t like he could hear her or even talk to her. “I don’t know why I said that. I don’t know why I’m talking to you. I mean, can you even hear me? I’m not sure but there are TV shows of doctors on this planet and they seem to think talking will help wake someone faster so…why not right?”

She could just imagine what he’d say to that. _‘Optimistic as ever.’_

“I know,” she huffed. “But it’s partly your fault. If you actually DID pray to your gods for that then it’s your fault I’m still like that.”

She glanced at the monitors, hoping that there might be some change, but she hadn’t been talking that long.

“I went on a date…and I’m realizing I’m not even sure if you know what that is. Did you date on your planet? We never talked about that.”

_‘You were a kid. What about the cooties!?’_

She laughed to herself, fully aware that she was making up what he was saying. There was no such thing as cooties on Krypton, probably not on Daxam either, no word like it either. 

“It’s different now,” she continued to speak as though he’d really said that. “Especially dating humans.”

She fell silent.

“It was a disaster,” she huffed, slumping in her stool. “He showed up, with take out and pizza, two of my favorite things, and we were going to have a date in, just a simple dinner. And I ruined it by running out to stop a crashing ship. He said it was fine, but I really wanted it to work. We rescheduled, and then more things just…got in the way. He said…he said…”

_‘Did he blame you?’_

“Rao, no,” she laughed. “No, James would never blame me for being a superhero. He’s always encouraged me to be one. I just…” she sighed. “He mentioned that it seemed like I wasn’t as interested in dating him now as I was before.”

_‘Well what’s different?’_

“Nothing’s different.”

She winced at that, ok that was the farthest thing from the truth.

She took a breath and looked around, it was just her and Mon-El there. No one was even near the room that could hear her. She was…safe. She could say exactly what she was thinking and feeling and…and it wasn’t going to hurt anyone.

“He was dating this woman, before. She was nice. I liked her, I respect her, they were good together, a great partnership. And I…I liked James. I wanted to be the one to date him. Or…or I thought I did? I don’t know. It’s complicated.”

_‘You’re talking to yourself, Kara. Doesn’t get more complicated than that.’_

“Shut up,” she muttered, before rolling her eyes. She literally WAS talking to herself in an imagined conversation with an unconscious person. Definitely complicated.

_‘Why don’t you want to date him?’_

“I don’t know why I don’t feel as…as eager now.”

Another lie.

“That’s…that’s not so true,” she confessed. “I just…I don’t…I’m not…” She took a deep breath and fell silent a moment, needing to gather her thoughts. “When I was younger, when I just arrived on the planet, I was terrified. All I had was the Danvers and I was so scared for so long that they’d get tired of me or that I’d be too much to handle and they’d want me gone. Alex, she…she tried to be supportive, help me fit in. She showed me all these shows and music and books and things and dragged me everywhere with her. And I let her. I thought, if I went along with it and liked what she liked, then I’d be safe. She wouldn’t want to get rid of me. I didn’t try to find out what I liked because I was scared, what if what I liked wasn’t what she liked and it made her not like me too? Play it safe.”

She looked down at her hands at that, fidgeting more as she confessed some of her insecurities to Mon-El, not like he could hear her but…maybe she needed that. She needed someone who wouldn’t try to make her feel better or talk her out of what she felt. She just wanted someone to talk at who wouldn’t share what she said with anyone even unintentionally. 

“Maybe…maybe that’s why I liked James. I mean, I’m an alien. I have superstrength. Maybe you will too. But that’s not the point. The point is…I’ve tried dating before him. It never ended well. Like broken-bones-never-ended-well…”

_‘What did you DO to them?’_

“A lady doesn’t kiss and tell,” she muttered. “The point is, it wasn’t good. And it just made me think I’m never going to be able to have that with a human. I’d have to watch myself constantly. Clark, he grew up on Earth, with the strength he has his entire life. I’m still learning how to hold back even years later. Somewhere in the back of my mind I always knew it can’t work with a human. So…maybe that’s why I liked James so much.”

_‘I’m lost.’_

“If I liked James…someone who was already in a committed relationship…then it was SAFE. Nothing could happen between us, because he was with his girlfriend and not me. It was easier and safer to like someone unavailable, someone I couldn’t have. Because it meant, if I liked him, I wouldn’t like other people. I wouldn’t try dating or being with someone else if I was hung up on James. I never…I never really expected him to like me back or to want to be with me after things ended with his girlfriend.”

_‘You are more than enough.’_

Kara had to smile at that, a warmth spreading through her at the imagined words. She shook her head firmly, reminding herself Mon-El hadn’t said that, he probably didn’t even think that, but…it was nice to hear, even if it was in her head.

“And now he and his girlfriend have broken up, and we DO have a chance to be together and I’m just…it’s not what I expected to feel. I’m…scared and I just feel exactly like I did with those other boys. I keep thinking about all the ways I have to hold back. I kissed him and instead of enjoying it, I was constantly reminding myself not to press too hard or turn my head too fast or grab him too strong. And that’s…that’s not how a kiss should feel. But that’s how it always feels with humans.”

She let out a long breath. 

“Am I a terrible person to feel like that? Did I just…did I lead him on?”

_‘You couldn’t be a terrible person even if you tried.’_

“Thanks,” she whispered. “I mean, it wasn’t just me right? I pined after James but…if he liked me enough to want to date me NOW? How did he feel while he was still with his girlfriend? It wasn’t fair to her for me to be interested in James and…and not be subtle about it. It wasn’t fair to see things in his interactions with me when he was with her. It’s…did I cause him to cheat on his girlfriend emotionally?”

_‘Is it possible to do that?’_

“It’s a thing on earth. When you’re dating someone but you’re pining for or interested in someone else. Did I do that?” she breathed out a sorrowful breath.

HAD she?

She liked to think James was better than that, that he’d never do something like that. And maybe he didn’t. Maybe he hadn’t. Maybe she was just trying to find some kind of fault with him to make it easier for her to want to back out of their option to date. She honestly didn’t know. She was sure that James would never do that to someone he was in a relationship with. She was likely just looking at things and finding what she wanted to see.

“I don’t know what to do now,” she admitted. “We have a chance to date and after all that pining, I SHOULD really try to date him, right? I mean, I owe it to him…”

_‘You don’t owe anyone anything.’_

“But it feels like I do. I made such a big deal about liking him and him not being available. Now he is, it feels like I’ve led him on if I don’t date him. But…it’s also not fair to him if I DO date him just because I feel like I have to. I don’t know what to do Mon-El.”

_‘What does your heart tell you to do?’_

She had to laugh at that. If there was any proof that she really was imagining this entire conversation, it was that. Despite how much she tried to push past her prejudices and what she’d learned about Daxam, comparing it to what she knew of Mon-El, she KNEW he’d probably never ask her that, or at least phrase it like that. Given his people, he’d probably have asked her what would make her happier.

It sounded more like Clark talking to her than Mon-El, but Clark wasn’t there, Mon-El was. 

Either way, whoever it was that was talking to her was giving her some food for thought.

“My heart says that…that I like being around James. That I enjoy spending time with him, and it was nice kissing him, but there weren’t any fireworks. And I don’t think there ever will be. I don’t want to lose him as a friend though.”

It was funny how talking out loud could sometimes help you solve a problem. Mon-El was like a rubber wall to bounce her thoughts off of and he wasn’t even awake to do it.

It did make sense, now that she thought about it, how she felt about James and how she’d looked at him before. Liking an unavailable human meant others were off the table. Pining for James, the only man around her that was in a serious relationship at the time, meant there was less chance of her noticing other humans or wanting to date them. And if she never went after them, then she’d never have to feel that loneliness that came with realizing she couldn’t be herself or tell them about her.

James knew her secret too, that she was Supergirl. She wouldn’t have to agonize over whether to tell her partner or not. He knew her cousin, so she wouldn’t have had to worry about if Clark approved. He was the easy choice.

But there was nothing easy about being with a human. She aged slower, Clark had confirmed it. She didn’t know how much slower. For all she knew she’d still look like she did now in 30 years while James would be wrinkled and grey or even dying. She would constantly have to hold back her power. Every touch, hug, hand holding, kiss, cuddle, every move would have to be controlled. If she ever, and she blushed to think it, tried to be intimate with a human…she could kill them. She could never experience that passion or lose control. She could hurt them, in more than one place. 

Humans were fragile, compared to her. And, realistically, she had come to see somewhere in her past that she could never be with one the way Clark was with Lois.

So James made sense. Liking him took other humans off the table, she’d never have to experience all that if she wasn’t interested in dating anyone else. And she’d never, at the time, be able to date James.

Now that she could…she didn’t want to.

She blinked as she came to that realization. 

She didn’t want to date James. He was a friend to her, a great friend, and…sometimes like a brother. Right at the beginning of his move to National City, she could remember him saying something about how Clark had sent him to there to watch out for her. Like a babysitter. She hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but looking back…it sounded more like a person talking to a little sister than a potential love interest. It had changed, clearly his view of her had changed over time, and so had hers.

Or maybe it hadn’t.

“I think James and I would be better as friends,” she determined.

And she felt…lighter, having said it out loud. It made her feel…happy. 

She didn’t want to lead James on. She didn’t want to keep promising dates when she wasn’t one hundred percent into them. She didn’t want to keep treating the dates like a mission. They worked, but as friends and not lovers. And that was ok. It was better to work that out now than to have gone on a few dates or officially become boyfriend and girlfriend, or even fiancés, and realize it too late, years later. It was better to find it out now, when they had just started, than to finish it later when they were too invested. She felt guilty enough for having caused him so much turmoil as it was, if they’d been dating longer she would feel guilty to leave and have wasted his time.

No, it was better to end it now, give him time to find someone else, a human, that he could be with and love. And…

Well, she really didn’t know what it would mean for her. She didn’t know where she went from here, but…she could figure it out. She had time, as Clark had confirmed, and…after all that time pining, maybe it was time to focus on something else for a little while. She’d spent so long wanting to be with James and trying to learn to be Supergirl. She needed to know where SHE stood as a person. Who was she? What did SHE want in a partner? DID she want a partner right now? What was Kara Danvers going to do with her life? What did she want from it? What did she want for herself outside of dating? A partner could make you happy, yes, but without one you needed to be happy with yourself first.

She needed that. She needed to focus on herself for now, not dating.

She looked up as she heard the heart monitor beep rapidly just for a moment, just two beats that were quicker than most, and looked down at Mon-El. The rate calmed and he was still sleeping soundly.

Ok, maybe a little bit of an amendment to that.

When Mon-El woke up, she was going to need to focus a little on him as well. He would be on an alien planet, having lost his, with no one he knew but her. He’d need help as well and she knew at least THAT much about herself to know that she needed to help people. That was what she needed.

But, before any of that could happen, there was the matter of the Venture Launch and Lena Luthor’s Renaming Ceremony to take care of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel more ok if Mon-El doesn't sound like him in this chapter since it's Kara imagining a conversation so the voice would be a little more skewed towards her own voice :-)
> 
> I like James and his character, but watching him and Kara in season 1, it felt off to me. She pined after him SO much, especially when he was off the market, that it seemed (to me) just a tiny bit forced. Not forced like the directors and writers were trying too hard or that the actors were trying too hard, but just that Kara seemed a little too fixated on liking him despite him being in a committed relationship. For someone like Supergirl, who tends to put herself on a pedestal or be the paragon for good and pure and right, it seemed odd that she would keep pining after someone in said committed relationship instead of back off and look elsewhere. I get that she tried a few times, but those times seemed a little forced to me as well and they still came back to her and James. WHY would Supergirl be so fixated on liking a taken man? I don't think she'd ever dare try to actively come between them, maybe there was more to it.
> 
> Maybe James was her safety net. One of my friends, when we were talking about it, mentioned something similar she felt happened in one of her favorite shows, in the Shadowhunters universe, with Alec and Magnus (is it Alex? Idk, I really just sort of watch Supergirl and a few other shows so I only know what she tells me). Apparently a character, Alec(x?), was gay in a very "don't ask, don't tell" society and thought he loved his adoptive brother. My friend explained it as that was his safety net. Because his brother was straight and it would be very wrong for Alec to act on his feelings, so if he loved his brother that way, then he would be safe. Because he'd never have to come out as gay, because nothing could ever or would ever happen between them, and if he liked his brother then he wouldn't look at or like other men. Then Magnus came along and made him rethink what love was (which was a beautiful concept to hear about).
> 
> Basically, it made me think maybe my theory had some merit to it. By Kara pining for James and thinking she wanted to be with him, when she knew they could never be together as he was taken, she would never have to try with other humans. She'd never have to experience holding back or lying to them or the failure of the relationship with a human. She was safe from that hurt and sadness if she focused on liking someone she couldn't have.
> 
> I'm not sure if it's true or correct or how others took it, but that was just my interpretation of it all. 
> 
> I wanted to add that scene here because I felt like Kara needed someone to talk to to help work it out, and also Mon-El was a good person for that role. He wasn't awake or able to respond, so he couldn't try to guilt her or persuade her or change her mind or anything she might fear others would do with all of them being James's friends as well. And, I think she also needed a revelation that it probably couldn't work for her and a human too and a part of me just wanted her to have that revelation around Mon-El :-)


	5. Awakening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter will skip a fair bit of Episode 2. Mostly because, with Kara keeping Mon-El being from Daxam a secret for now, and with her dedication and internal promise to already be there for him when he wakes up, 1. I couldn't see there being much outward difference during the moments where the power surges are happening and 2. I couldn't see Kara and Alex actually having an argument about her considering leaving. At most, Kara might mention having considered it, but she wouldn't actually seem as focused on leaving with Clark when Mon-El is still there. So I sort of summed up the minor differences in those scenes to get to the moment we're all waiting for...Mon-El's awakening :-)

Kara sat beside Mon-El’s bed. It was night already and it felt like the longest few days of her life with how much of a mess everything was. 

She and Clark had been having a great time fighting criminals together, too much of a great time as she may have broken protocol here and there during it. J’onn hadn’t been happy with it. He also hadn’t been happy with the power fluctuations the building was experiencing.

Because of Mon-El.

She smiled at the memory of learning he had been unconsciously draining the energy around him to help heal. She hadn’t known Daxamites could do that, not that there had been a Daxamite on Earth for her to find that out on before him. But it made her feel…happy…that he seemed to have different abilities than she did. Fighting with Clark and sparring with him was fun, but they were evenly matched. Fighting someone with a different skillset or power range would pose her more a challenge, she hoped at least. Mon-El had to wake up first.

But despite how on edge it put the rest of the DEO, she’d been really excited to learn what was happening. Because it meant Mon-El had healed enough through the yellow sun to start healing more rapidly using the energy around him. 

Clark had been horrified to see the DEO’s method of trying to stop the fluctuations was to expose Mon-El to kryptonite, but they both knew Mon-El wouldn’t react the same way. Or at least she hoped he wouldn’t since he wasn’t Kryptonian. He didn’t seem to be. But Clark had had her back and hadn’t revealed Mon-El wasn’t from there, continuing to berate J’onn for “torturing” a survivor like that. 

Looking back on it, she should have been more vocal about it too, since Mon-El was HER friend. But she’d just stood there and observed, because she knew it wouldn’t hurt him. Thankfully Clark had caught that and reacted for the both of them.

Things were strained with everyone after that, like it was just one big bad day after another. She’d gotten unhired from her boss, then later rehired, faced an enemy that had gotten its hands on Kryptonite to use against her and Clark, then had some tech made to help combat that, had a family night with Alex and Clark, then had a fight with Alex over it…

She winced as she thought about that fight. It could have gone better, it really could have. She’d been feeling down that Snapper, her new boss, hadn’t been pleased with her efforts and just lamented to Alex about how things were changing too much. Cat Grant was leaving, Clark was going to be leaving, and it slipped out that, for a moment she’d considered leaving too, maybe go to Metropolis with Clark.

She hadn’t been serious. It was just a momentary “X is leaving, Y is leaving, Z should leave too” thought. She had no intentions of leaving, but Alex had gone off on her for even having the thought. She’d tried to explain that it could make sense, her going with Clark, taking the giant alien target off National City by Supergirl departing, make the DEO’s job easier. But she’d explained she wasn’t going to do it.

Alex fumed that she’d even considered it, had even told her that she had better not do it after how she’d kept her mouth shut when Clark was over. She’d gone on a tangent about how she’d spent her whole life devoted to keeping Kara safe and if Kara left, it would have been for nothing, all the sacrifices she’d made.

She had been stunned Alex would deal such a low blow as to try and guilt her into staying even if she HAD decided to go. She’d wanted so badly to snap back at her sister, say that, after what Alex had said, the only reason she would stay in National City was Mon-El.

She looked down at the man lying on the bed and felt guilt stir in her stomach. She’d been on the cusp of saying that, wanting to hurt Alex the way Alex’s words were cutting her. She’d wanted to make Alex feel like her sacrifices were wasted because she wouldn’t be enough for Supergirl to stay for, only another alien would. Because she felt less alone with Clark, being another Kryptonian, and she would never want Mon-El to feel that way, to abandon him to Earth alone not after Daxam’s destruction. She’d wanted to show Alex she didn’t need her as much as Alex seemed to think, to say something to get the woman to back off.

But her phone had rung, it was Clark, and he’d saved her from making a giant mistake and hurting her sister in a moment of anger. She couldn’t believe she even thought of saying that to Alex, both because it would have devastated Alex that she wasn’t enough for Kara to stay, but also because…had Mon-El woken up after she’d said that, Alex would loath the man. She felt so bad she’d even considered those words because Alex meant so much to her and she DID appreciate Alex’s sacrifices and she would NEVER want to hurt her sister like that.

Once they’d both calmed down they’d apologized to each other over the whole thing and their sisterly bond was stronger than ever.

Kara took a breath and looked at Mon-El, reaching out to rest her hand on his. Clark had left and…oddly…she didn’t feel that loneliness she’d been dreading to feel with his departure. She DID have a family around her, and good friends, and now Mon-El back.

But it just reminded her, that while SHE had all this…Mon-El would wake up to nothing, to his planet gone, all his friends and family and people destroyed. He’d be utterly alone.

Except for her.

And she would never let that loneliness sink in the way it had for her. She’d experienced it, she knew what she wished people would do and say when she was younger, she could be there for him in a way the Danvers and even Clark couldn’t be for her.

“I know what it's like to be a stranger on this planet,” she murmured, squeezing his hand tightly, “So when you wake up, I'll be here for you. So, you never know what it's like to be alone.”

A strange urge rose in her to lean over and kiss his forehead. It was something Eliza did for her when she had a nightmare or had just been crying. It was a comforting touch on Earth, but she couldn’t bring herself to actually do it. The most she managed was flushing red from the thought of it.

She jerked back, letting go of his hand, when Mon-El suddenly gasped awake, his eyes wide with terror, the monitors going crazy from his racing heartrate. 

“M…” she only got the first letter to leave her lips when Mon-El reached out and grabbed her around the throat, pulling her over the bed and throwing her to the other side of the room.

She landed with a crash and a thump, winded and trying to get her bearings from the sudden attack. 

Mon-El, however, wasn’t quite so breathless. He quickly began ripping the numerous wires off him, barely managing it with how badly she could see his hands shaking. She saw him give a quick look around before bounding out of the room.

“No, wait!” she tried to call, wincing as she struggled to stand. She could hear the DEO agents rallying outside, shouting for him to stop and freeze, but she could also hear the clear sounds of a fight.

“FREEZE!” a shout came.

“Alex!” Kara quickly pushed herself up, not caring if she hadn’t gotten her breath back before she bolted out of the room, following a trail of shaken agents till she reached the main forum.

“I sure picked the wrong time to get rid of all my Kryptonite,” J’onn’s voice rang out as Kara managed to make her way over to her sister and J’onn, avoiding Alex’s rather large bazooka-like weapon in the process. “You alright?”

“Yeah,” Kara nodded, but a frown was evident on her face. “I’m just…a little shaken. Where is he? Where’s Mon-El?”

“He disappeared into the city,” Alex informed her regretfully.

“I thought you said he was a friend?” J’onn gave her a hard look, crossing his arms, demanding answers.

“He IS,” Kara insisted.

“He just attacked you,” Alex pointed out. “He attacked all of us.”

“He was in shock!” Kara defended. “People do that!”

“People don’t just wake up in a hospital and attack a doctor,” Alex deadpanned.

“Actually,” Winn began as he moved closer to them, “They do, sometimes. Thor did.”

“Now is not the time for your comic book talk, Agent Schott,” J’onn huffed. “This is the real world.”

“No, no, I mean. Look, Thor experienced a shock and trauma before he was sent to Earth. And when he woke up, in a new planet, hooked up to monitors, with strange people around him, he attacked. People, humans do it too, when they’ve experienced a trauma and wake up in a new place. Flight or Fight.”

“Well he certainly did both,” Alex muttered. “Winn, see if you can find any way to track him.”

Kara shot Winn a grateful smile for him defending Mon-El despite the attack on the DEO as he nodded and headed off. She…she didn’t know why he’d attacked HER. He HAD to have recognized that giant House of El glyph on her chest, but he’d attacked anyway. She almost felt hurt, but Winn’s words reassured her. People, humans even, DID have extreme reactions to trauma and waking up somewhere unfamiliar. And the destruction of Daxam, the room he’d been in being unlike the familiar architecture to him, it would be jarring enough. 

But it just made her even more concerned now, both for him and the humans. If he was in that much shock that he’d attack someone wearing a House of El glyph, what if he attacked the humans? What if one tried to help him and he reacted? What if he got hurt? What if he ran into the middle of the street and a car hit him? He’d probably be fine, but the car and people wouldn’t be. A vague memory flashed in her mind, one only half-understood from her childhood, but it told her enough to know that Mon-El would feel so guilty if he accidently hurt an innocent person.

“Which is just what I don't need,” J’onn seemed to voice part of her thoughts. “A rogue Kryptonian on the loose just as the President is due for a visit.”

Kara began to nod along with that, before his words caught up to her. “Wait, the President is coming here?”

“Yeah, she wants to tour the DEO while she's in National City to sign the Alien Amnesty Act,” Alex explained.

“Wow,” Kara breathed out. “An executive order allowing aliens on Earth to come out of the shadows and live as full citizens. She'll make history.”

“Not in my book,” J’onn huffed, crossing his arms. “I think she's making a big mistake.”

“Now, how can you of all people say that?”

“Because it's been my hard experience that humans and aliens don't mix.”

Kara had to blink at that and gesture between the two of them and Alex, humans and aliens clearly mixing well. “What about you and me?”

“What about us? We can look like them, we blend in, a lot of aliens can't. And people in this world don't have much tolerance for others who look different. I say that as an alien and as someone who's worn the face of a black man for 15 years.”

“J'onn's right,” even Alex agreed, surprising Kara. “I can count the number of good aliens I know on one hand, with two fingers to spare.”

“Well, I'm just glad the President doesn't see things the way you two do,” Kara mumbled.

A part of her felt…stung…almost hurt or angry or some other emotion she couldn’t place that Alex didn’t consider Mon-El among the “good” aliens. It was like she was saying she didn’t trust Kara’s judgments. But she had to remind herself, Mon-El HAD just seemingly attacked the DEO. Even with Winn defending his quite human response, it didn’t bode well for Mon-El. The DEO would need to bring him into custody now due to the attack.

“Well, you be sure to tell her that when you meet her,” Alex teased.

Kara nodded along, but stopped short. “What?”

“She expects National City's highest-profile alien to greet her on the tarmac.”

Kara shook her head, frowning. “I can’t meet the president.”

“You can and you will,” J’onn pointed at her. “You'll be representing this entire organization. I expect you'll be professional.”

“Yeah, and if you’re nervous just picture…” Alex began, but Kara cut her off.

“No, I mean, I can’t go out and meet her now,” Kara argued. “Mon-El is out there, alone, and lost, and scared no doubt. I can’t just leave him. I have to find him. I’m sorry, J’onn, but I need to go after him.” 

The longer he was out there, the longer he was in danger and A danger. She didn’t want the DEO to feel they HAD to move out on him. The sooner she found him the better, because if SHE could find him first, she could talk to him, explain things, get him to volunteer to go to the DEO instead of have him be lead there in handcuffs. Not that handcuffs would hold him, but still, it was the principle. 

She NEEDED to find him and find him first. He had to be told about Daxam and where he was, warned of his superstrength, though it appeared, from the state of the agents he’d battled, he may have already discovered that. He needed to be reassured and helped, not ganged up on and attacked like a criminal.

As big of an honor as it would be to meet the president, Mon-El really needed her first.

J’onn let out a long, resigned breath. “And you will. You will have my full permission to scour the city for him, but you MUST meet with the President. Supergirl, she’s here to sign a treaty to give Alien refugees a place to settle. Not everyone is going to be happy with it.”

“CADMUS,” Alex agreed. “I don’t doubt they’ll do anything to stop it. Even attacking the president.”

Kara frowned at that, torn. Because it made sense, until the Act was signed, the president WOULD be in danger from anti-alien protests…and she’d need someone superpowered and alien to help her keep the peace. But part of her kept thinking that Mon-El was a piece of that too, he was a refugee on the planet and he didn’t know it, he was alone and he needed help.

But J’onn was right, she ultimately decided. She would spend every spare moment looking for him, but she HAD to be there for the President too.

She just hoped she’d find him quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was very tempted to have Mon-El react differently here. But I can say there IS a reason for him attacking Kara and the next chapter, fold heavily from Mon-El's POV, will explain why it happened. It'll look at what he's feeling, thinking, what's going on in his mind during that moment. BUT! We're finally going to get Karamel interaction! Yay! I'm so excited! :-D
> 
> On a slightly more down note, did anyone else feel upset with Alex in that episode? I mean, I see haters raging about how Mon-El is "manipulative" and "guilting" Kara, and this scene was like "You mean like Alex did?" (though they'd never say Alex ever did anything of the sort). I just felt so bad, it really felt to me like Alex was trying to guilt Kara into staying by making it about how she'd given up so much for Kara when Kara never really asked her or even likely wanted her to. That was Alex's choice and to bring it up just because Kara was considering branching out and leaving? The scene just made me feel so bad for Kara and a little disappointed/angry with Alex :-(
> 
> Back to a happier note, I found it funny that the DEO didn't realize Mon-El wasn't Kryptonian sooner for being such alien experts and having two Kryptonians on file. Like, the Kryptonite wasn't affecting Mon-El at all, clue 1. He was absorbing energy in a way the Kryptonians around them never displayed, clue 2. They must have had a stethoscope to listen to his heart, which was on the other side than humans and Kryptonians, clue 3...yet they were surprised he wasn't Kryptonian? Wow. :-)


	6. Reunion

Mon-El paced back and forth across the floor of an observatory, one of the native species sitting at a control panel and sending out the distress signal he’d given the coordinates for.

He winced as he turned too quickly and nearly toppled over. He didn’t understand why he was so fast now, why he was so strong. He didn’t understand anything about what was happening.

It was all a blur to him. He remembered being woken abruptly by his guard and the palace shaking, being rushed out of bed and out of the room only to see his planet falling apart around him, what looked like asteroids striking everywhere, destroying everything. He was dazed, but kept moving as his guard pushed him along, barely able to understand what was happening even then. He’d had a lot to drink the night before, had dabbled in some of the drugs offered at the latest party. It hadn’t worn off, wasn’t meant to till mid-day, not so early. But he kept moving through the haze.

He had been sure, desperately sure, that it was a nightmare or hallucination brought about by the drugs. Sometimes they had negative side affects when they were wearing off. This HAD to be one of them. It was a dream, a hallucination, anything but real. His people weren't in danger, his planet wasn’t being destroyed around him, their lives weren’t in jeopardy. It was the drugs.

He just had to push through the hallucination and it would be fine. He’d wake up in his bed, with someone beside him, they’d part ways and he’d go eat and have to face his parents and their criticisms of his latest disappointing behavior. 

But then there was a Kryptonian there and a pod unlike Daxam’s. And then his guard was firing, yelling at the man, and grabbing him, hauling him towards the pod and commanding him to leave. He did what he was told. Get away from the destruction and he’d wake up.

Somewhere along the way the darkness had overtaken him again…but this time when he woke up, he was nowhere near his planet.

He could remember hearing a beeping noise, hearing someone talking to him. But it was muddled, like he was hearing it through water. And he felt cold. And it smelled stale and too clean in the way that burned his nose. He felt more after that, an unfamiliar bed beneath him, things stuck to him, and he FELT different. He couldn’t describe it, but it was like a burst of energy had hit him and he’d jolted awake.

It was even more of a blur after that moment. There were machines around him, touching him, and he didn’t know what they were doing to him. There was someone standing over him, a woman? He couldn’t remember, but they were there and looming over him. Keeping watch? Had they put him there? HOW had he gotten there? WHY were they just sitting there while he was attached to these machines? 

It was too much. This had to be just another hallucination. It was just so odd a place, there was too much different than Daxam, too much glaring at him from too many directions. It wasn’t real. He needed to break through it. He’d lashed out and grabbed the person, throwing them away with strength he shouldn’t have had. That was all the more proof that this wasn’t real, just another nightmare. He wasn’t that strong.

…or had the machines done something to him?

He recalled ripping them off himself, his hands shaking, his entire body shaking. He honestly couldn’t tell if it was just the drugs wearing off or the shock of everything he’d imagined. Whatever it was he was desperate to rid himself of those devices. He’d run from the room, needing to get away. The more he stayed there, the more he began to fear it wasn’t a dream after all, that he’d been taken somewhere…

The girl…woman? Long-haired man? There was a symbol…something…something staring him in the face…Krypton! The girl had a Kryptonian symbol on her chest. He could recognize the sharp lines and shape even if his vision was too blurry to see what it was. 

Had he been captured? Had the Kryptonians attacked Daxam? Had they taken him for ransom?

He needed to get back to his planet. He needed to contact Daxam, let them know he was alive. He needed to see his people were safe. He had clearly been kidnapped and brought to a strange world. His people wouldn’t know where to look for him if he didn’t call out to them first. HE didn’t even recognize where he was, there was no way his people would either. 

But first he had to get out of that place.

He’d run, and the next thing he knew, people in obvious armor were rushing at him, holding what could only be weapons of some kind. They were all in matching uniforms, all shouting words he could barely make out but heading for HIM. He’d turned to run, only to run too fast and crash into one of the uniformed people. He’d reacted, turned, tried to reach out for balance, and knocked another one out. Even as delirious and shaken as he was it didn’t take much to know that his actions would seem like an attack.

He could see the odd soldiers lifting their weapons now and grabbed what he could. He remembered breaking something with too much force than he should have had. He remembered jumping from a balcony and not being harmed when he landed. He remembered someone with short brown hair and a very large weapon shouting at him…

And he remembered running and jumping and running some more.

He had wandered the streets of this odd world, staying in the shadows and darkness, not wanting to risk being seen. Were ALL these people warriors? Did they all know to look for him? What species were they? WHERE was he? Why were there these metal boxes on wheels speeding about? And the noises? Why did they hurt his ears so much? Why could he smell things and hear things so much more profoundly? What was happening to him?

What had those people done to him while he’d been unconscious? They must have done something, experimented on him or injected him with some substance to do this to him, to change him.

He needed to get home, but how? Where could he go?

He had wandered for the course of a the light shining from the sky, swiping clothing to cover his chest off a bench he’d passed. 

He had been lucky to see a monitor of some sort behind a glass where many were stations, showing some kind of report calling for people to visit and look at the stars. That was what he needed, that was where he’d find his answers to where he was. If these people could look at the stars, maybe they studied them, maybe they could send a broadcast out to them. 

He’d taken the better part of the night to get there, getting lost but not trusting any of the species around him to help him. He couldn’t risk them knowing him and attacking him, putting him back in that place that held him before.

He just wanted to go home, and had told the lone person in that star gazing place as much. The man seemed disturbed and tense, which he understood. He’d meant to still the man from leaving, but the odd strength he’d seemed to develop had lifted the man up more than he should have. The man had agreed to send out a distress call for the promise that he wouldn’t be harmed. 

If that was all it took, he’d agreed readily and provided the coordinates needed.

But it was taking too long. Or maybe he was just THAT far away from his planet. But WHY? Why would the Kryptonians need to take him so far away? How had he gotten that far without having woken once? It wasn’t making sense. And the longer he was there, the more concerned he grew for his planet.

“Any response?” he finally turned in his pacing and made his way back to the man at the command board.

“No.”

He opened his mouth to ask if he was SURE he’d put the coordinates in correctly, when there was a thump above them. He looked up to see a blur of red and blue fly through a window and land before him. 

He stumbled back, his hands up in the air in innocence. “I don’t want to hurt anyone!” he shouted quickly. He moved back even more when his mind caught up to him that this was the person from that cell he’d woken in, the one he’d seen looming over him.

The woman (so it WAS a woman!) strode towards him and he hurried back more, not even noticing when the command-board-man ran out of the room at his distraction.

“I know,” the woman replied, holding her hands up as well and slowing her purposeful strides as she seemed to realize it was startling him and how threatening it came across. “I know you’d never hurt anyone, Mon-El.”

Mon-El froze at that, his hands lowering in the confusion that was now painted across his face. “You know my name.”

“Yes.”

“How?” He shook his head.

The woman gave him a sad smile. “You don’t remember me do you?” She winced before he could even respond. “No, I don’t mean remember, I mean recognize. Sorry. It’s just…I’ve been waiting for you to wake up for a while and it didn’t quite go the way I’d pictured. I really shouldn’t have expected you to recognize me. I was just a little girl the last time we met…”

Mon-El’s hands fell to his sides as he tried to process her words. This woman knew him, knew his name, felt that HE should know her as well. His gaze traveled to the glyph on her chest, his eyes widened as he recognized the symbol. “The House of El?” he mumbled, his gaze flickering up to her. “You’re from the House of El?”

“I am.” The smile she gave him with a small nod was filled with so much hope that he scrambled to try and gather enough wits about him to make the connection.

Krypton.

The House of El.

A little girl.

He was sure it showed on his face the moment the pieces fell into place by how wide and expectant her blue eyes grew.

“Kara?” he breathed, not daring to hope he was actually correct.

Kara bit her lip and nodded, tears filling her eyes making them even more blue.

Mon-El shook his head, confusion rising. “No. No you can’t be.”

“I AM,” she insisted, taking a single step towards him.

“I saw you. Two months ago. You were…you were THIS big!” He put his hand to his mid-stomach indicating how young and small she’d been.

Kara couldn’t help but laugh at that. “I grew up.”

“I can see that,” Mon-El muttered, though his mind was failing to catch up to that fact, still stuck on this…woman…being the little girl from two months ago. 

It didn’t make sense. HOW could she be Kara Zor-El? Kara Zor-El had been a child when he’d last seen her. And this person before him certainly wasn’t a kid. It had to be a trick or a trap or something. But she wore the glyph, she knew his name, and she SOUNDED like Kara. If he looked close enough, he could see aspects of the young girl he’d known in the woman before him. They had the same color hair, the same nose, the same smile, the same wide blue eyes that were always far too innocent. He was starting to see it, how that little girl could be the woman before him. But it didn’t explain HOW.

“I don’t understand. How…it’s not possible…what happened? Kara where are we? What’s going on?”

Kara’s expression grew regretful as she took another step towards him. “I’m sorry,” she told him. “I know, I know it’s really confusing right now and you’re really on edge. But I need you to trust me and come with me.”

“Back to that place?” Mon-El stepped back at that.

Kara looked even more regretful. “Yeah.”

“No.” He shook his head. “I can’t go. I can’t leave. I need to see if Daxam got my call. My people, Kara it was raining fire. I need to know if they’re ok.”

Kara’s breath hitched, something he knew he shouldn’t have been able to hear normally. “I can explain everything,” she promised. “But not here. I can’t right now. The DEO knows you’re here. I tried to beat them to you but they ARE coming for you, Mon-El. It’s their job to apprehend dangerous aliens that land on Earth and…”

“The DEO?” Mon-El frowned, growing more confused by the second. “Earth? Is that where we are? And…aliens? Dangerous? I’m not…”

“I know,” she cut in, moving an urgent step towards him, her hands up in a placating manner. “I know you aren’t. But you woke up and attacked me and a few other agents. They’re going to think you’re hostile, especially with the recent attack on the president.”

“What’s a president?”

The expression on Kara’s face was an odd one. It looked something like relief mixed with something smug. “Mon-El, I really DON’T have the time. I need to take you back with me before they get here or they’ll attack you again.”

“I just want to go home, Kara,” he argued. “My people are in danger, I don’t know if any of them survived whatever attack that was. I can’t just leave.”

“I understand…”

“No, you don’t,” he cut in, his voice firm yet gentle. “I was…I was drunk and drugged right before it happened. I was useless. I thought it was a bad batch, a hallucination. I didn’t do anything to help them. I need to do something!”

“Mon-El.” Kara’s voice grew so soft and sorrowful, so packed with regret and empathy that Mon-El felt his heart sink in his chest. He could tell, just from the sound, just from the look on her face, that whatever she was about to tell him wasn’t going to be good. “Daxam…it’s…”

“GO! GO! GO!”

A fierce crash sounded behind him and he spun around to see a door smashed open and the same armored, uniformed people swarming into the room. He jumped back as something clacked on the floor and rolled towards him before a red gas began to fizz out of it.

He could hear Kara shouting “Alex, no!” behind him, but he felt like his lungs were collapsing as they filled with the red gas. Black dots appeared on his vision and he felt his world spin out of control. He vaguely felt the hard floor connect with his shoulder, may have even hit his head on the ground (though he couldn’t be sure), before the world faded away completely.

If was funny though. 

Just a second before everything disappeared, he could have sworn he’d seen two comets flash before his eyes…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We'll get more in the next chapter about the DEO's/Kara's thoughts on the president's attack, how/if the DEO knows he's from Daxam, if they think he attacked the president like in the show, and more ;-)
> 
> This was my interpretation of Mon-El's awakening and the reasons behind his actions, especially for this story with how he knew her and should have recognized the glyph. With what Mon-El said about the planet usually drugging themselves to not feel things, I just kept thinking "what if he was drugged when Daxam was destroyed." He seemed a little less coherent with all that was happening for it to be just being jarred from sleep :-(
> 
> On a lighter note though, I have a question. I posted yet another reunion-story and it gave me an idea for two more multi-chapter stories. I'm debating whether to start posting them along with this and Betrayal, or to wait till I've finished this and Betrayal first? On one hand, MORE Karamel stories! Yay! On the other hand, with four stories going, a single story won't be updated as quickly as I'd have to put some time to chapters for two more stories as well. On yet another hand, if I DO post two more Karamel stories, all of them would take longer to finish which would mean I'd have more to last through the hiatus.
> 
> I'm really not sure and just sort of debating at the moment so I'd love to hear what you all would think? More Karamel Stories? Or focus on just two at the moment? I posted this question in the last chapter of Betrayal as well to get an idea :-)
> 
> If it helps, I can say one would involve a parallel world that ends up affecting Kara and Mon-El in THIS world. And another would be a sort of meta/in-depth character study of Mon-El.


	7. Profound Loss

Kara couldn’t help but feel like this was getting to be too familiar to her, sitting at Mon-El’s bedside, her hand resting on his, waiting for him to wake up. The only difference was now she was sitting inside a DEO cell with him and one of his hands was chained to the wall with Nth Metal Cuffs. She had been loath to allow that, but it was the only condition J’onn would agree to in terms of letting her in the cell with him. He wanted a way to make sure the Daxamite wouldn’t be able to speed out of the cell when she left. 

A small part of her knew he also wanted to make sure SHE wouldn’t break the cuff off either.

Returning to the DEO after they had captured Mon-El had been…worse than the awkward Clark had warned her of.

She felt so ill just looking at J’onn and Alex’s disappointed faces. And it hurt to know they didn’t trust her quite as much when it came to Mon-El, as they’d proved with all this.

She had planned to tell them more about him, when he’d been awake and able to say it himself. Would have pointed out, when they turned disappointed at her, that she had never specified his planet, merely let them assume it was Krypton. That was all shot to hell now.

Mon-El had beaten her to that reveal unknowingly.

In fact, pretty much everything had been shot to hell in record time.

She had been searching for him everywhere when she wasn’t at CatCo or meeting the president, but hadn’t found him. And then the president had been attacked by, what appeared to be, heat vision. Which, of course, the DEO then assumed meant a Kryptonian was responsible for, given their abilities. And there was only one rogue at the time, Mon-El. 

They’d launched a man hunt for him, had as much luck as she had finding him, till Alex had asked Winn to check for emissions into space. Apparently she and a detective, Maggie Sawyer, had investigated an alien bar for information. No one had seen Mon-El, but that hadn’t stopped them from getting useful and, actually really obvious, advice. One of the aliens, according to Alex, had laughed at them asking about Mon-El’s whereabouts or possible plans. Because if an alien woke up on a strange planet, the FIRST thing they would always try to do is contact their home for help. 

Really, SHE should have thought of that first. It was so obvious! 

But it had led Winn to detecting the transmission, and he’d added that it was to Daxam, not Krypton. 

She had flown out of there before Alex could even turn to look at her, question painted all over her face for why he’d be signaling THAT planet instead of his "home" world. But she hadn’t been fast enough to miss Alex calling out the nearest DEO team to head to the observatory. It had been a race to get to him first, and even that had failed. She’d tried to yell at Alex through the comms to call off the attack, but the team had already thrown the gas at Mon-El.

Mon-El had been knocked unconscious, locked in a cell, chained up, and SHE had been questioned by J’onn and Alex about all of it. While she’d been racing to Mon-El and the DEO had been bringing him back, Winn had done just as she feared and looked up every mention and record of Daxam in the Kryptonian records. They now thought they knew exactly what Mon-El was like because of it. 

They knew about the animosity between Kryptonians and Daxamites, the hate between them, the endless feuds. They knew about the war, how so many lives had been lost, how Krypton blamed Daxam for starting it. They knew Daxam was a planet of hedonists and hoodlums ruled by a king and queen. She had winced when Winn brought up the Kryptonian saying “Maytix Kohlar Daxam” and its very literal translation. They felt they knew everything they needed to about Mon-El, enough to know he HAD to be the one to attack the president.

She’d argued that he couldn’t be. He didn’t even know what a president was. He had no reason to attack her.

The DEO, apparently, couldn’t take her word for it now that they knew she hadn’t been completely truthful about him. J’onn had tried to explain that it was to protect the DEO. Whatever Kara might know or think about the situation, HE had to consider how it would appear to an outside observer. Supergirl hid information about an alien, an attack happened with Kryptonian abilities, and now she was defending their suspect. He said it was as much to protect her too. Because now they knew Mon-El was from Daxam and had no idea what powers he might have, whether they’d be similar or different than hers, SHE would be their next suspect. 

To an outside observer, it COULD appear that she had something to do with the attack, as though she were some sort of spy or traitor. 

She had to tread carefully from there on out and let the DEO take the lead till the real would-be assassin was found.

Personally she thought it was ridiculous. She had been standing RIGHT THERE, when the attack happened and hadn’t used her heat vision, she’d saved the president, and her word and vouching for Mon-El should be enough. Sadly, it wasn’t.

“Mon-El?” she called gently, hearing a faint change in his breathing, the softest of groans from him. “Hey, hey, you’re ok…”

Mon-El winced as his eyes fluttered open. “I’m not sure my skull being split open qualifies as ok…”

She gave him a sad smile over that. “I’m sorry. I tried to stop them.”

Mon-El looked around the room a moment, taking it in. “I take it this is the DOE place?”

“DEO. But yeah.”

“And this isn’t the normal accommodations.” He lifted his left arm, the metal of the cuff clinking as he moved.

“No.” She looked regretfully at it. “It was the only way I could get them to agree to let me in here with you. They think you’re dangerous.”

“Because I knocked a few of them over?” Mon-El frowned at that. “That’s taking it a little far…”

Kara seemed confused for a moment. “Do you remember what we were talking about before…”

“Before I was drugged?” Mon-El moved to sit up as best he could with his hand cuffed to the wall. He paused, looking down at his other hand when he felt an odd pressure on it to see Kara quickly pulling her hand away from his. He shook it off. “I’m from Daxam, Kara, I know what drugs feel like. And I doubt their affects are much different. It’s a little muddled what happened right before it.”

Kara sighed. “They think you attacked the President, the um…ruler…of the country.”

Mon-El frowned. “Why would they think that?”

“The president was attacked by someone with heatvision.”

“Heat vision?”

“You probably noticed that you have some…enhanced abilities?”

“I can run faster,” he began to catalog. “Jump higher. I think I’m stronger too?”

Kara nodded along. “Me as well. You may have more though, it’ll take time to discover it. Or you may just have different abilities than I do. As a Kryptonian I can fly, my breath can get cold enough to freeze, I have heat vision...”

“But if heat vision is a Kryptonian thing, that still doesn’t explain why they think I would hurt your president. I’m from Daxam.”

Kara was silent.

Mon-El’s frown deepened. “Kara.”

“I may have let them assume you were from Krypton,” she said quickly. “I was afraid they’d read about Daxam in the Kryptonian records and they wouldn’t give you a fair chance on Earth. And it wasn’t my story or life to tell about. And I didn’t actually LIE to them, I don’t care if you’re from Daxam or not, but you appeared in a Kryptonian pod so they assumed…” she trailed off as her words caught up to her. She fell quiet again, steeling herself. “Mon-El…you came to Earth in a Kryptonian Pod.”

Mon-El took a deep breath, hearing the question in her statement. “When Daxam was attacked, my guard pulled me away. There was a Kryptonian representative about to leave, and my guard fired on him to gain access to the pod.” He fell quiet as well, his eyes trained on Kara, watching for any sign of how she felt or what she thought. “He was doing his job. He was evacuating the royal family.”

“I know,” Kara whispered after a long pause.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Kara said quickly, looking up at him and trying to smile, HE wasn't the one that had attacked the representative. 

She had guessed something like that had to have happened. As far as she knew Mon-El hadn’t been on Krypton when everything happened. Which meant someone from her planet had to be on Daxam. She’d hoped that, perhaps, the person had just gotten harmed in the debris striking the planet or that the pod had been discovered before the person could get back to it, but now she knew the truth. 

It hurt, deeply, to know one of her people had been alive, could have escaped and maybe made it to earth with her and Kal, likely someone from her own house or one of its allies. It hurt to know a Daxamite had killed him instead of Krypton’s own destruction.

But it also would have meant someone she considered a friend would have died instead. 

A dark part of her wondered if it would have been better for Mon-El not to escape, to not have to be told he was the only one of his species left alive. She felt like she knew him well enough to know that he cared for his people, for him to find out they were all dead and HE wasn’t? It would crush him.

“Well, that’s different.”

Kara looked up at his words. “What is?”

Mon-El forced a small smile, needing to lighten the mood, needing Kara to smile again and not look as devastated. He’d always hated it when she was sad, seeing that little girl’s smile fall away was like watching clouds overtake the sun. “I was expecting you to comment on how I was shirking my duties, being lazy and sleeping in.”

Kara let out a teary laugh at that. “I’ve grown up a lot since then. Things are a lot more complicated. And…things are a lot different. Mon-El…about Daxam…”

Mon-El fought to keep the smile on his face. “Do they have Zakkarian ale on this planet?” he asked, trying to joke but his heart was racing in his chest. He could hear it in her voice again, the regret and sorrow and pain. He could hear the painful news, because it had to be painful for Kara to look so broken up about something involving Daxam, about to break. “I feel like I’m going to need some Zakkarian ale for this conversation.”

Kara nearly snorted. “I think we both will.”

Mon-El stared at her.

“What?” She frowned.

He shook his head. “Nothing, I just…you really are grown up now. I half-expected you to ask for milk or juice or something.”

Kara rolled her eyes and lightly slapped his shoulder for that remark. “It’s been…a long time, Mon-El. I left Krypton when I was 12, but my pod got stuck for…a few years. I didn’t age there and when I got to Earth, my baby cousin was all grown up. It’s been about 13 years since then. I’m 25 now.”

“Your baby cousin was grown…” Mon-El’s face scrunched in (what Kara refused to admit was cute) confusion. “Plus 13 years…” She could see the exact moment the pieces fell into place. “Kara…how long was I asleep for?”

“35 years,” she told him so quietly she was sure he wouldn’t have been able to hear it if not for being an alien. “Your pod got stuck in the Well of Stars.”

Mon-El’s breath left him at that, his mind racing at the implication, his heart pounding in his chest. “But that means…Daxam…35 years…I should have been there! I need to get back and...”

“There’s more.” Kara winced as she said it, it was already so much a shock for him to know how much time had passed, to have to hear the fate of his planet? It would crush him, but he deserved to know.

“Ale,” Mon-El managed to choke out. “Anything? Zifrien Dust?”

Kara felt her heart break at that. 

Krypton may not have been big on any kind of non-medical drug, but she did know what some were. Zifrien Dust was something similar to what a human would consider cocaine though the properties were somewhat different. It was similar in that it was inhaled through the nose, it had to be breathed in, and it created an intense feeling of euphoria but it lasted longer, hours at a time, it made you coherent in a way cocaine didn’t, it hindered pain receptors from physical to emotional. The only good thing that came from it was it was non-addictive in a way earth cocaine wasn’t. It was a rare drug, expensive, and literally mind-altering in a sense that, any emotion felt during a trip of the dust was an emotion felt once it passed. It was a highly illegal drug as it also operated, she heard, as something of a “love potion” if one existed. Dope someone with the dust and the intense euphoria would reconstruct the signals and triggers in the brain. If you shared some sort of emotional connection or pleasure with a person while under its affects, they would associate that feel with you after it wore off. 

To hear Mon-El asking for it, it brought tears to her eyes. Because it meant he knew it was going to be painful what she was about to say, and he didn’t want to associate that with his planet. Daxamites were notorious for not wanting to feel negative emotions, no one really knew why, but they valued happiness and feeling good. If he got a hold of the Dust and she told him about Daxam…he would feel a happiness, joy, and calm serenity whenever he heard his planet or talk about its destruction.

It was so unhealthy, it was no way to cope, but it told her so much about his fear for his planet.

“When Krypton was destroyed,” Kara began, needing to get this out. It was going to be a difficult road, one filled with a profound loss and a deep grief to process, but she was determined now to see Mon-El through it in the healthiest way she could. “The debris showered onto Daxam.”

“So it wasn’t a Kryptonian attack?” Mon-El’s voice was quiet, all joking gone, replaced with a somberness and seriousness she couldn’t remember ever hearing from him. 

“In a way it probably was,” Kara considered. “But not intentional. The core of the planet was unstable and, eventually it just…exploded, taking the planet with it. Some of the debris struck Daxam, but larger masses struck its moon, disrupting the gravitational force of the planet.”

Mon-El tensed at that, her words finally sinking in. “Wait, what are you…what are you saying?” He didn’t like the tears filling her eyes. “Kara? Are my people ok?”

Kara could only shake her head. “Daxam is still there, but it was ravaged by solar storms. It's a wasteland now. Your home, my home, they're, uh, they're gone.”

Mon-El let out a shaky breath, looking away from her and down at the floor, feeling tears fill his eyes as a deep ache settled into his very core. He’d been asleep. He’d been worse than drugged and useless. He’d been dragged off while his planet was being rained down on by debris from Krypton. He’d been in a pod and…and fallen asleep while his people were suffering and dying from the fall out. He’d been drifting though the Well of Stars while his planet became desolate and ruined. 

His planet, his people, his family and friends and everything he’d ever known…gone.

His gaze shifted when he felt something on his free hand. Kara had moved to sit beside him, had placed her hand on top of his and was squeezing it. He turned his hand over, lacing their fingers together, needing more than that, and squeezed it back as tight as he could, feeling himself start to shake as the impact of his loss hit him.

Kara kept her gaze on Mon-El, her eyes searching his face and taking in every single emotion flitting across his face. She couldn’t describe the relief she felt when he took her hand in his and held it tight, that he was accepting her comfort despite her planet being the reason he’d lost his own. He wasn’t blaming her, not yet at least, he was letting her be there for him, offer him some kind of comfort and support. And she vowed then and there that she would continue to do so. 

She had been lucky to land on Earth, to her cousin knowing a good and safe home for her, a loving family that had been there through all her pains and grief and coping and healing. She had been lucky to find such supportive, patient, understanding people and good friends through her life. Mon-El hadn’t been so far, but it would change. SHE would be there for him, SHE would be patient and understanding and help him any way she could. 

She looked down at her hand only when she felt something wet land on it and watched the tear that had fallen from Mon-El’s storm-grey eyes drip down the back of her hand.

She would stay there as long as she could, until the DEO actually found the REAL assassin targeting the president. And then she’d take them down, clear Mon-El’s name, and do anything she could to help him heal.

She would hold true to her promise. He would never know what it felt like to truly be alone, not as long as she was there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made up the Zifrien Dust. I honestly have no idea what cocaine is like or full effects or anything, so I wikipediaed it. I just wanted a sort of "powerful drug" for Mon-El to bring up both to show the reliance Daxamites seemed to have on drugs and really not wanting to feel anything, and also how painful the conversation was going to be :-(
> 
> But yay for supportive Kara :-) 
> 
> Just a bit of a head's up though. My manager is on vacation this coming week and everyone's working more hours to cover her, so updates might be a little slower than normal during the week. Not by much, but not as quick as they have been. It should only be for next week though ;-)
> 
> I'm also still debating the two new story ideas I have, but thank you all for your input and advice! I'll keep it in mind as I try to work out what to do :-)


	8. Testing Limits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To make up for this being a little later than I normally like, I made the chapter just a little bit longer for you ;-)

Kara reached over to help Mon-El lift a weightlifting bar back onto its rest, having insisted on spotting him while he went through the seemingly endless tests the DEO had for him to assess his abilities now that he was on Earth. They were starting with physical strength, how much he could hold or lift. It surprised her how little Mon-El could handle, when her own tests were off the charts. He was still MUCH stronger than a human, by far, but nowhere near her level. She’d actually been worried for a moment about it, till she’d thought back to her first few months on Earth. It took a while for the yellow sun’s energy to invigorate their alien qualities. Their bodies could only soak up so much energy at a time before it was used to the sun and could store it efficiently. And, combined with how poor a state he’d been in when he arrived, it WOULD take him a few more days, weeks even, before the sun affected him to her level.

Mon-El shot her a grateful smile when the last push ended up being too much for him, panting a little as he sat up on the bench to face J’onn, Alex, and Winn as they observed.

“So anyway, that's how that happened.”

Kara glanced at her friends and family to see if they were questioning Mon-El’s story. 

He had told them essentially what he had told her, but he reversed the roles. He’d made himself out to be the guard and his guard to be the prince. She didn’t blame him for the twist in the truth. Well, she didn’t blame him anymore. She’d argued with him that, after her stint of not telling them the whole truth, that he would be better off just being completely honest.

But he’d had very valid arguments that persuaded her to go with his story. He really hadn’t changed anything other than the roles and titles. And after the DEO threw him into a cell with no evidence at all, he wasn’t inclined to trust them all that much. He didn’t want them to know he was a prince or royalty in any way. He’d seen and heard tell of what could happen to royalty in strange worlds.

She’d tried to reassure him that the DEO had learned and wouldn’t do that to him again. J’onn had even apologized on behalf of the DEO for what happened. But Mon-El’s trust in them had been harmed from his experience.

He’d told her about his fears regarding his status. If he told them, he COULD have been kept locked away as a hostage or for ransom if his people did contact Earth from his transmission. He didn’t want to be a bargaining chip. He wouldn’t listen to her defense of them, not after they’d thrown him into a cell for an attack he had nothing to do with.

He’d expressed a concern with, even if the DEO wouldn’t lock him away, if word got out that a prince was on Earth, other aliens might. It could put a target on his back for aliens that were greedy or bounty hunters or even just wanted to sell him for a price. She’d tried to explain everyone in the DEO signed confidentiality agreements to not speak of any information they learned in the facility. But it was hard to prove that. It was hard to prove to him they wouldn’t talk, that they wouldn’t get drunk one day on their day off and blab things, that one of them wouldn’t be tempted or greedy or want revenge for his attack. 

As much as she wanted to defend the humans, she knew enough that some WERE exactly like that and it was not her secret to tell.

He’d gotten quiet at his last point, reminding her he wasn’t prince anymore if his people weren’t there and his planet was gone. He was a prince of nothing, and even when he had been a prince, he hadn’t been a good one. He didn’t want to be reminded of that, of the loss of his planet, of the person he’d been there. He’d seen how he’d been treated just for being a Daxamite, Kara had had to tell him about what the others knew so he’d be prepared not to lie about those aspects. He had heard exactly what they thought of his people, of the people he represented, and if his planet was truly gone…he had nothing left. He had nothing left to him except his name and who he was. Titles didn’t matter. And if he was on Earth, on a new planet, he would HAVE to make a new beginning in some manner. Holding onto the title of prince wouldn’t help him do that.

She didn’t quite agree, trying to forget the past and pretend it didn’t happen only worked for so long. But if this was what he needed right now to cope, she would allow it and be there for him when it finally crashed on him.

“You were a palace guard?” Alex clarified.

“For the great royal family of Daxam.”

“Ugh, they were the worst,” Kara added, moving to stand beside him as he looked up at her, an amused smile on his face. She’d agreed to help cover his real title and this was just one way. “And their son, the prince? He was rumored to be the worst of the worst. Frat boy of the universe!”

For someone who, as a guard and Daxamite, should have been insulted by her words, and for being the actual prince, Mon-El gave a soft chuckle for it. “Uh, he had his good moments, too.”

He could hear how she’d said it, a sort of…exaggeration in her voice. Like he used to sound when he was agreeing with his parents that he was “SO looking forward to” some banquet or discussion or another. It was like an exaggerated but also sarcastic response. Like you didn’t quite believe what you were saying, but said it for the benefit anyway.

And it…made sense for her to take that stance about the prince. If he was someone even Kara disliked, the others would never expect HIM to be the prince if she was friends with him.

“Oh, yeah, your planets didn't get along so well, did they?” the man, Winn, remarked, gesturing between them.

“No,” they both answered with a very deep scoff. That was an understatement for the animosity between their people. Honestly, it surprised both of them that they’d managed even a tentative beginning of a friendship given that fact, and their ages.

“Um,” Mon-El glanced at the other three. “Look, I know it's a long shot, but any chance there was a response to that signal I sent to Daxam? I mean, I can't be the only one left, right?”

Kara had said his planet was a wasteland. But…she hadn’t known for sure about his people, just what she’d seen in her pod and what he remembered. The destruction had come about so suddenly…he could understand if he WAS the last. He hoped he wasn’t though.

Alex, who he now knew to be Kara’s sister, exchanged a glance with Winn, their expressions serious and somber. “I'm sorry, but, no.”

Mon-El nodded sadly, looking down at the confirmation. “Right…” he let out a breath at that, glancing over when he felt a hand on his bicep to see Kara squeeze it in comfort. He gave her a wry smile before he shook his head and looked back at the others. “Anyway, enough of those…those dreary thoughts, right? So, what do you guys do for fun around here? Do you drink or dance or…oh, hey,” he looked back at her, “Do they play Garata here?”

Kara didn’t answer immeidatley, just looked at him sadly for his reaction. It was heartbreaking to watch him act that way, to try and brush “those dreary thoughts” off as though it would be easy, as though “dreary thoughts” wasn’t the impact of his entire planet being destroyed and leaving him a refugee on Earth. 

She’d seen him do this before though, she could vaguely recall being a child and him being sad and her wanting to know. He’d always brush her questions off, mention something so minute before he acted like it wasn’t important, even though it clearly was to him. He would always put on a smile for her and tell her a joke, force himself to appear happier and unbothered, so that he wouldn’t affect her mood with his own. That was what he was doing now, not wanting to appear weak in front of people he still didn’t trust.

“What's Garata?” Alex asked after a moment, giving her sister a confused look. Her gaze drifted between Kara and Mon-El, the two aliens were just looking at each other, almost like they were either having an entire conversation with just their eyes or both recalling the same memory.

“It's like soccer,” Kara looked over at her, breaking from her thoughts. “With dragons.”

“No, not that.” Winn responded to Mon-El. “Uh, we have PlayStation?”

“Great,” Mon-El spoke gratefully, flashing Winn a smile. “So, when do we get out of here and do that…that thing you just said?”

Kara began to smile as she turned to him, but Alex quickly cut in, “You have to stay here in the DEO.”

“Alex,” Kara turned to her sister with a frown now.

“It’s policy, Kara.”

“J’onn,” Kara moved onto him. “Can’t he come with me?” she asked, not wanting to just leave him there in the DEO given how she knew he felt about them. Being locked in a cell, and then being trapped in the general facility? He wouldn’t like it and it was no way to help him start to rebuild and settle onto Earth. “Release him into my custody or something?”

J’onn seemed to be expecting some sort of reaction like that from her…or perhaps his expression was just normally that set in unsurprised. “Until we can assess the full range of his powers, he’s going to have to stay in this facility. For his own protection.”

“I’m Supergirl though!” she argued. “He couldn’t be more protected than if he was with me.”

“I can handle myself just fine,” Mon-El began to argue lightly as well, though he gave Kara an odd frown at that.

A part of him couldn’t get used to that change in their dynamic. For years HE had been the one responsible for her and her safety when she was on Daxam. Now the tables had turned and SHE was responsible for him and his safety on Earth.

“But if staying here is required, I’ll do it,” he finished. 

If he was being honest…he didn’t really WANT her to look out for him in that way. He was the adult (even though a voice reminded him she certainly as now too) and it was HIS responsibility to care for her, not the other way around. The last thing he wanted was to go with her and have her be forced to actually “protect” him and be harmed doing it.

“Good.” J’onn nodded.

“Mon-El!” Kara huffed, before rounding on J’onn once more, having caught something. “You said UNTIL he’s been assessed. What about after?”

J’onn let out a long sigh which sounded odd to Kara and Alex, it was almost impatient in a way. “We’ll discuss this once the assessment has been completed. Right now I have somewhere I need to be.”

Kara and Alex blinked in shock as J’onn seemed to not only practically give in and say Kara could likely take Mon-El after he was finished, but also that he had just walked off.

“Where are you headed?” Alex called after him.

He didn’t even turn as he responded, “It's personal.”

“I didn't know he did anything personal,” Alex muttered. She winced in apology to Kara, who had been about to comment, when her phone went off and she stepped aside to answer it. “Danvers.”

Kara sighed and turned to Mon-El who was looking at the list Winn had made of all the tests they still needed to do. “I can help you set them up,” she offered. “Stick around, help out.”

“Actually,” Alex called, heading over with a serious look. “I’m going to need Supergirl with me on this call.”

Mon-El gave Kara, who was now wearing a disappointed look, a smile. “It’s alright.” He touched her arm lightly. “You go.”

“Yeah, we’ve got this,” Winn added, though he threw an odd look at Mon-El. The man had sounded…a little too eager for Kara to leave, which was odd, because they seemed like they could barely be more than two feet away from each other at any given time since he’d been locked in the cell earlier.

Kara let out a long breath but nodded at Alex. “You’ll do great,” she reassured Mon-El, her smile turning teasing. “Not as great as me though…”

Mon-El rolled his eyes. “That Kryptonian superiority will come back to bite you one day!” he called as she headed off after Alex. He took a deep breath and turned to Winn. “What’s first?”

*************************************************************************************************************************************************  
Kara tried really hard not to be annoyed as she walked through the DEO with her sister and J’onn. It was the first break she’d had in the last few days and she’d been hoping to check in on Mon-El’s testing. She’d wanted to stop by sooner, but between the murdered alien Supergirl had to help investigate and the murdered alien Kara Danvers was reporting on, she’d had barely any time to herself to just stop by. She hadn’t thought the tests for Mon-El would take this long, but she had to remember that the DEO already HAD information on her abilities based on Superman. Mon-El was a different breed, literally, and there was no way to know what similar abilities or different ones he might have from her.

She didn’t fully see the point in testing him NOW given he’d only been exposed to the yellow sun for a short while, but she could understand needing to gauge his already existing abilities to help create a training program for him.

She’d been just about to check in with Winn and Mon-El, when she’d heard Alex had been investigating the alien and it had gone very wrong, so she’d detoured to check on her sister and caught her briefing J’onn on the situation.

“Do we know who the men in the van were?” J’onn was asking as he strode ahead of them.

“No,” Alex sighed. “But these weren't low-rent thugs. They were definitely combat-trained. They mean business.”

“So do we,” J’onn grumbled, before giving her a hard look. “Or have you forgotten about that?”

Kara frowned at his tone and shortness with her sister. He’d been like that for the last few days and they’d hoped whatever it was would fade, but he was still just as tense. “Hey. Hey, what's with the grumpy? Today and yesterday…”

“Is everything alright, J'onn?” Alex asked, both of them looking at him with concern despite how rude he’d been to them.

J’onn sighed. “I appreciate the concern, but I assure you, I'm fine.”

Kara crossed her arms in his signature pose, “Don't make me pout.”

Alex smirked at that. “She's really good at it.”

J’onn glanced around before turning to head into one of the DEO’s conference rooms, dropping the report Alex had given him onto a table and gathering himself. “I am not the last Green Martian,” he told them, turning to face them. “There is another. Her name is M'gann. Megan.”

“It's a miracle, J'onn!” Alex beamed at that, knowing how it felt for J’onn to be the last, the guilt and loneliness he’d felt.

Kara gave him a sad smile. She was happy for him, BEYOND happy. While she had her cousin, she couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be the very last. She felt like Clark could relate to J’onn so much more before she arrived on Earth and he went from “being the last” to having another of his species, especially his family there. And even if it wasn’t for Clark, there had been Astra, some Kryptonian criminals. She had never been the last so she was thrilled for him!

But another part of her, a small voice, whispered that Mon-El was still the last of his kind, as far as they knew and as much as it seemed to be at the moment. J’onn could relate to Mon-El, perhaps offer him advice and words of comfort that he would need…but now he had this M’gann, he wasn’t the last…but Mon-El still was.

Of all the aliens he would have to be around in the DEO, Mon-El was now the only survivor of an extinct species.

She was happy for J’onn, she WAS, but she would be lying if she said the reveal hadn’t caused her to feel an even deeper pain for Mon-El. But she had to hope, if she had Clark and J’onn had M’gann, then maybe, one day, another Daxamite might appear and he wouldn’t be the last.

He would NEVER be alone, she’d sworn that. But being alone and being the last were two different things.

“I met her at that alien bar you spoke of,” J’onn continued, pulling her from her thoughts. “We talked, but I think I made a mistake.”

“Why?” Alex frowned. “What happened?”

“I offered to merge with her in the Martian way.”

Kara’s eyes widened at that, not having expected such an answer from the usually stoic and distant J’onn J’onzz. “But you guys just met!”

J’onn gave her an amused smile, small though it was. “Psychically, Kara. The bond is the traditional Martian way of communicating. We…we link minds, share dreams, emotions, memories. We kept no secrets from one another. Imagine a world without ego, selfishness. Without lies.”

Kara nodded slowly. “Sounds beautiful.”

J’onn sighed though. “She didn't seem to think so. The moment I talked about it, she left. I am grateful to have you both in my life. I truly am. But with Martians, it's…it's different. It's deeper. Deeper than talking. Fuller. With her, there's a chance for me to live how I was meant to live.”

Alex gave him a kind smile. “Just tell her that.”

Kara nodded eagerly, “Why don't you try apologizing?”

J’onn gave them both a brief nod of consideration before he picked up the file once more and headed out of the room.

Kara moved to follow him, hoping she could still catch Mon-El and Winn before something else came up, when Alex put a hand on her arm to stop her. “What?” She looked at her sister.

Alex’s expression was hard to place. It seemed amused, teasing, but also oddly serious and warning. “Don’t go getting any ideas.”

Kara’s entire expression scrunched in confusion. “About what?”

This time Alex’s smirk was definitely teasing in a way only an older sister could manage. “About merging with Mon-El in a Kryptonian…or Daxamite…way.”

Kara’s face flushed. “Alex!”

Alex burst out laughing at that. “I’m sorry, but your face!”

Kara scowled. “Not funny. And unnecessary. Mon-El and I…we’re…no. Just no.”

“Really?” Alex crossed her arms and lifted an eyebrow at her sister. “So I didn’t just imagine you two staring into each other eyes the other day?”

“We weren’t…”

“Or find you two holding hands in his cell with you practically sitting on his lap…”

“That wasn’t…I was NOT…”

“Or…”

“Alex!” Kara cut in. “Mon-El and I are not like that. We’re just friends.”

Alex nodded in a way that told Kara she did not believe a word.

“Really,” she insisted. “He doesn’t…I don’t like him like that.”

“Hmmmm,” Alex hummed, a thoughtful look on her face that still held that teasing quality. “You know, ever since he arrived, I’ve had this vague memory of the two of us watching a Disney movie as kids, and you being very adamant that, if you ever had to marry a prince, it would be someone named Mon-El…” Alex trailed off, frowning at that. A Prince named Mon-El, a guard named Mon-El?

“I was 12!” Kara defended, her face twice as red now, horrified Alex even remembered that. 

They had gone on a Disney binge when Alex realized, as an alien, Kara had never seen any before. So she’d selected every princess movie there was. Kara could remember getting very annoyed by the end of it by all the different princes and how the princesses always lived happily ever after with them. Alex had been confused why she hadn’t liked the movies, and Kara could distinctly remember remarking something about how you should be able to live happily ever after without marrying a prince. Alex hadn’t understood why that was a big thing. And Kara had said that the only prince she would marry (as she didn’t know any other princes) was Mon-El and he was gone. Alex had quickly picked a different movie genre entirely when Kara had started to cry at the reminder of her lost planet.

It had been ONE time! She’d JUST lost Krypton! She was TWELVE! 

She was honestly surprised Alex remembered even that much.

"And besides," Kara added, catching Alex's thinking look and realized that she may have revealed Mon-El's true identity and status years ago. "I'm pretty sure I said I'd never pick a prince, but the guard."

Alex nodded, that did seem like her sister to pick the person who would give their life to protect another, like a guard, instead of a selfish, self-absorbed, arrogant prince like she'd made the Prince of Daxam sound. But then Kara's words caught up to her. "So you admit you DID want to marry Mon-El at one point!"

Kara began to sputter and stutter, her face growing almost an unhealthy shade of red now.

Alex burst out laughing once more. “I’m just teasing you Kara.”

“I know,” Kara huffed. “But stop, please? Mon-El doesn’t like me, I don’t like him…”

“You both seem to…”

“We’re friends, we don’t like each other like each other,” Kara corrected. “And he JUST lost his planet, Alex. The last thing he’s going to be thinking about is a relationship.”

Alex gave her an odd look.

“What?” Kara asked, fearful of what Alex might take from that now.

“The way the Kryptonians talk about Daxamites,” Alex began, careful. “It doesn’t seem like they’re about relationships at all. More like hook-ups.” She gave Kara a pointed, meaningful look.

Kara looked away, getting the point. Alex was trying to imply, in the “relationship” comment, that SHE was thinking about a relationship with Mon-El. Which she wasn’t. WAS NOT.

…and even if she was, it was NOT in the cards for her. She had already decided and told James she needed to focus on being Kara now, not a relationship.

Good thing she was NOT thinking about something like that.

“If he really wants to adapt to Earth,” Kara murmured. “He’ll need to use Earth customs, which includes relationships and not just hookups. He’s not at a good place for either.”

Alex nodded slowly, giving the conversation a rest for now. “If you say so.”

*************************************************************************************************************************************************

Kara stood in the DEO’s secure room, looking at the hologram of her mother. After her talk with Alex and bringing up all the memories of when she’d lost her planet…she just…she wanted to see her mother.

“I got my first article published,” she offered the hologram, needing to start on a safe topic.

“I am pleased for you, Kara,” came the flat reply.

“Thanks,” she whispered, trying to imagine the words said with more feeling. “I have another idea for an article but I don't think my new boss is too keen on it. Or me, for that matter. Reporting is harder than I thought. And I thought it was gonna be really hard. But I'm trying.”

“Remember to always believe in yourself, my daughter.”

“Yeah,” Kara murmured, nodding sadly, having heard that line many times before. “Thanks for the advice.”

“Wow,” a familiar voice said behind her.

Kara offered Mon-El a smile as he entered the room hesitantly, taking her smile as permission to enter fully. “All done with your testing?”

Mon-El’s grimace was answer enough. “Winn said we could "chillax for five?” His confused expression made her laugh. “Whatever that means?”

“It basically means to take a break for five minutes.”

“Oh.” Mon-El nodded. “Good. I wasn’t sure why he was wishing me to freeze.”

Kara shook her head in amusement. “I don’t know if you remember her. But this is…”

“Your mother, Alura Zor-El,” Mon-El finished for her, stepping beside her to look at the hologram.

Kara felt a warmth fill her for a moment at the fact he DID remember her mother. She had somewhat expected him to remember HER, even being a child, he’d had to put up with her so much. But her mother was another story.

“We had constructs like this on Daxam,” he remarked.

“Daxam,” the hologram began to say. “Sister world to Krypton. A race of bullies and hedonists, committed only to their own pleasure…”

Kara’s eyes widened in horror. “Bye Mom!” she shouted, rushing to turn the hologram off.

“They are selfish…”

Kara winced as it finally blinked away. “Sorry about that.”

Mon-el gave a soft chuckle. “No, it was an apt description.”

Kara still gave him a sheepish smile. “Sometimes I just like to come in here to tell her about my day. I know it's not really her, but I…it just makes me feel less…”

“Alone?” Mon-El offered.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know if I ever told you this,” Mon-El began, his voice becoming lighter, as though he were trying to break the solemness they’d fallen into. “But your mom was a babe.”

“Excuse me!?”

Mon-El gave her an odd look for how outraged she sounded. “Winn told me that "babe" is what you call a beautiful woman on Earth…I'm sensing that's not right?”

Kara let out a breath, understanding the misstep now. “Maybe don't let Winn teach you too much about women on this planet,” she joked, but with a serious tone.

“Yeah,” Mon-El nodded at that, before turning to her. “Well, perhaps you can!”

“Me?” Kara blinked.

And suddenly she felt like her stomach had dropped to her feet and like all the air had been sucked out of her, like she’d been punched in the stomach by Superman…she swore she even felt a little ill but there was no Green Kryptonite around anymore. And just because he’d asked her to teach him about the planet? 

(A taunting voice reminded her of what specific aspect of the planet he was asking her to teach him about.)

“Well, Hank said I had to stay in the DEO for my protection.” Mon-El shrugged, not seeming to notice her reaction. “What if you were to accompany me outside? Surely I'd be safe from humans with the most powerful woman in the world.”

“I don't think that's a good idea.” Kara had no idea why her voice sounded so weak and strange to her ears.

Mon-El frowned at the sound of it. “Are you ok?”

“I’m fine,” she said quickly. “I just…I um…I forgot I need to get an article done for my boss. He wants it by tomorrow and I haven’t started it. Have to…get that done. I'll see you later!”

She almost felt bad for how she’d left a confused Mon-El standing in the room as she rushed out of it.

But she felt even more confused about why she felt twice as bad that he’d asked her for help like that. She didn’t understand why she felt angry and upset at his request.

It made no sense at all.

She had promised she would help him adapt and teach him about Earth. That meant everything, from customs to slang, holidays to electronics, expectations to systems, food to places, everything.

…so why didn’t she want to teach him about Earth women?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like Kara misunderstood lol. I think Mon-El didn't realize how he'd phrased that question. For Kara to have JUST been talking about learning about Earth Women, and then Mon-El to be like "If Winn can't teach me, YOU can!" I think she'd get the wrong idea ;-)
> 
> I've also decided what I'm going to do with the two new ideas I had. I'm going to write and post one of them, probably some time next week, but update it MUCH slower than this and Betrayal. This story and Betrayal will be my priorities and I'll only update the other one when I have extra time. I'll hold off on the fourth story till I've finished at least one of the (soon-to-be) three stories I'll have going :-)
> 
> Also...LOVE Alex :-D Her teasing was my favorite part to write :-)


	9. Hypocrisy and Understanding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for this being a little later. I wanted to post it yesterday night, but it was my sister's birthday and I also had a job interview for a promotion (fingers crossed!), I condensed a little bit in this chapter, but I hope the conversations flow well despite the mishmashed parts :-)

Kara was pacing back and forth in the DEO’s central control room, ranting to her sister about the confrontation she’d had with a woman called Roulette. Her day had just gotten worse since she’d run off from Mon-El in the hologram room. Snapper had rejected a story, Alex had been involved in a fight in an underground fight ring featuring alien participants, which included a large behemoth who managed to not only wind her but HURT her, and, on top of all that, she and Alex had had to tell J’onn that his new friend M’gann had been fighting in the club too. She’d tracked down the operator of the fight ring and confronted her about it all and now she was fuming.

She had just turned on her heel to continue her rant when Mon-El burst through the door with a shout of her name, startling Winn who was sitting at his desk with an icepack pressed to his temple, causing him to jerk upright and nearly fall out of his chair.

“Kara, I just heard about Draaga,” Mon-El strode over to her. “Are you alright?” He moved right into her space, his hands on her face as he tilted it gently back and forth, searching her eyes.

“I’m fine.” Kara couldn’t help but smile at the action, how concerned he appeared. 

“You’re sure?” he asked again, and she nodded. “Good. Are you insane!?”

“Excuse me?” Kara gave him a look as she pulled away and put her hands on her hips.

Alex who had been watching the interaction from her place beside Winn lifted an eyebrow at how quickly Mon-El had gone from concerned (which she appreciated) to chastising (which she also appreciated. It was hard work being an older sister!)

“Draaga is infamous.” He crossed his arms and frowned at her, not seeming at all bothered by her expression. And he had seen that very same one on her face as a child, when she was cross with a situation or him, it didn’t bother him nearly as much now as it had when the little girl in his memories used it. “He’s dangerous, Kara! What were you thinking going up against him?!”

“It’s not like I know who he is,” Kara argued, crossing her arms now. “I wasn’t expecting to get my ass handed to me.”

Mon-El frowned at that, completely confused, and leaned forward to take hold of the edge of her cape, lifting it up as he leaned more...before Kara slapped his hands to let go with a shout of "Don't look at my ass!"

"I don't..."

"It's an expression," Winn mumbled with a groan. "Draaga beat her in the match."

Mon-El’s face hardened, turning back to Kara. “So you WERE hurt.”

“The yellow sun lets me heal faster,” Kara looked away.

Mon-El reached out and tilted her face back to him with a finger. “But you were still hurt.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. Yes, I was hurt. But I’m fine now. And next time I’ll know what I’m up against and…”

“Next time?” Mon-El shook his head. “No. There will be no next time. You are NOT facing him down again.”

“You are not my father, you can’t tell me what to do.”

“You were put under my protection on Daxam when you’d visit m…my Prince,” Mon-El just managed to catch himself. “And the royal family. The planet in general…”

“And YOU are under MY protection here!” Kara huffed. 

“Doesn’t feel like it,” he muttered.

“What is THAT supposed to mean?” Kara demanded, both of them completely unaware of the attention they were drawing, both seeming to forget they were in the middle of the DEO.

“Nothing,” Mon-El sighed. “Look, Draaga is dangerous. You shouldn’t have faced him down in the first place!”

“Hey,” Winn’s voice broke in again, “As much as I’m loving the old married couple routine, can you keep it down? My head is already killing me…”

“Why would your mind be trying to kill you?” Mon-El frowned at him, concerned it was some sort of Earth virus, but no one seemed that alarmed or worried for him. Was it not a literal thing?

“Because of you,” J’onn answered sternly.

“I don’t understand.”

“The DEO received reports this morning of a six-foot alien attacking two men in a bar last night.”

“I did not attack anyone.”

“He didn’t,” Winn agreed quickly, wincing at how loud his own voice sounded to himself.

Kara frowned a moment, before the pieces fell into place. “You went to a bar last night?!” Kara demanded, turning on Mon-El.

“Winn took Mon-El to a bar last night,” Alex corrected.

Mon-El couldn’t help but look at Alex in confusion, they were all acting like the location was far more of a problem than the fact that he and Winn had left the building. Winn HAD seemed hesitant to enter the bar, had been reluctant to drink as much as they had. Was…was drinking not considered acceptable on Earth?

“By some miracle, nobody is dead,” J’onn added. “But we were lucky this time.”

“Unbelievable!” Kara threw her hands up in exasperation.

“It’s…it’s not Winn’s fault,” Mon-El tried to defend him. “I tricked him…”

“After all your talk about how I shouldn’t have faced Draaga?” Kara gave him an angry look. “And YOU were the one that disobeyed the DEO’s order, left the building, and injured two humans!”

“Kara…” Mon-El began, but Kara shoved past him and stormed out of the room.

“Look,” Alex stepped up to him a moment later. “I’m glad you’re concerned about Kara too, I really am. But she can handle a lot more than you think she can.”

“But that’s the thing.” Mon-El glanced at her. “I haven’t been allowed out of here to see what she can handle. I haven’t seen her do…anything with my own two eyes except fly. No one tells me anything.” He let out a frustrated breath. “But I know she’s upset with me and I need to talk to her.”

Alex reached out a hand to stop him when he moved to do just that. “Maybe give her time to cool down?”

Mon-El shook his head. “I need to explain myself.”

And with that he quickly headed out of the room, following what his new super-ears were picking up from the room Winn had been testing him in. He stepped in quietly to see Kara punching what looked like a block of rock with her bare hands and breaking it apart piece by piece.

He let out a low whistle at that, getting her attention, as though she hadn’t heard him follow her and purposefully been ignoring him.

“I am…worried for you,” he spoke when she stopped but didn’t turn around. “You have these powers and you know how to use them, but I don’t know what they are or how they work,” he added. “Winn talks about heat breath and frost vision…”

“Heat vision and frost breath,” Kara corrected.

“Yeah, that. But I don’t know anything about it or how powerful they are, how powerful YOU are. I’m sorry if I seemed…”

“Overbearing? Condescending? Hypocritical?”

“I’m not sure I was any of those things…but if you think I was, then I’m sorry.”

Kara let out a long breath and turned to face him. “I’m sorry too.”

Mon-El frowned, “What do you have to be…”

“You used to tell me, when I was little, that you liked the gardens because they were big and open, that you hated the palace because it was confining and you felt trapped there. I didn’t remember it till now, how you don’t do well being cooped up. I’m sorry I didn’t try to get J’onn to let you out with me accompanying you.”

Mon-El hesitated a moment. “YOU didn’t seem that eager to accompany me either.”

Kara winced as she recalled how she’d run out on him after he’d asked her to help him learn about Earth women. She sighed and stepped away from the punching block to lean against the nearest wall. “I’m sorry. I just…I had a lot going on and…”

“You don’t have to explain it to me,” he cut in gently, moving to rest on the wall beside her. “I’m familiar with the concept of not wanting to sit on a baby.”

Kara had to actually think about what he’d said for a moment. “You mean babysit?”

“Yeah, why do humans want to sit on their offspring? That doesn’t seem healthy…”

Kara laughed a little at the misunderstanding. “It’s what people on the planet call having someone look after their children. They um…” she struggled to find a way to make sense of why it was actually called babysitting that he’d understand. “Sit around and watch the baby.”

“Oh.” Mon-El nodded. “That makes more sense. But the point is, I get it. I used to “babysit” you on Daxam,” Kara smiled at his use of quotey fingers. “And now you have to babysit me. But I’m not a baby, so it must be even less appealing.”

“Hey!” Kara gave him a teasing frown. “Are you saying I wasn’t an utter joy to babysit?”

“No.” He laughed.

“Admit it. Babysitting me was the most appealing moment of your day.”

“Sure it was,” he joked. 

Kara gave him a smile. “It’s not that either,” she added. “I was just…having an off day and I took it out on you. I’m sorry for that. I really DO want to help you learn about Earth and get out of here. I DID request J’onn release you into my custody, remember? I wouldn’t do that if I didn’t want you around. According to the reports, your testing should be done soon and you can come home with me and we can get started.”

Mon-El smiled in return, but it fell after a moment. “Hank told me I needed to stay here because it wasn't safe. But he didn't mean for me. He meant it wasn't safe for humans. From me.” He let out a long breath. “I thought it would be fun to have these powers.”

“It can be. It will be. I'm going to teach you how,” Kara reached out and put a hand on his. “Those guys you hurt will recover.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt them.”

“I know,” Kara squeezed his hand and, before she knew it, words were spilling from her mouth without her control, telling him what was probably one of her more embarrassing stories, just needing to cheer him up, replace the guilty, horrified look on his face. “After I first got to Earth, I went to my junior prom. And Scott Klein asked me to dance. I stepped on his foot and I broke three of his toes. It's just gonna take some time to get used to having these abilities and living in the world.”

Mon-El nodded, glancing at her. “And you’ll really help me?”

“Yeah.”

“Well then,” he tried to joke. “I guess I should make sure you survive your next fight with Draaga and help you too.”

“Oh no,” she shook her head, pushing off the wall to point a warning finger at him. “You are NOT coming with me to face him.”

“I think J’onn would have them use that red drug to knock me out again if I even walk in the direction of the doors,” Mon-El deadpanned. “No. That wasn’t what I was suggesting.”

“Then what…”

“I once saw him fight on Warworld,” he told her. “Draaga took a blade to the right leg. It hit a nerve cluster. He's favored his left ever since.”

Kara narrowed her eyes in slight suspicion. “You WERE going to tell me this before right?”

Mon-El gave a small nod. “I didn’t want to,” he admitted. “I knew the second you knew he had a weakness, you’d be more eager to face him down and I WAS trying to prevent that. I don’t like thinking about you being hurt Kara.” Kara looked away at that with a small smile. “But if you had been set to fight him again, I would have made sure to tell you before you went, or tell Alex, tell someone so you’d know.”

“Thank you.”

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Mon-El was in the small training room, just fiddling with the different objects there while Kara, who he’d heard had beaten Draaga (he knew she could do it), was filling out the required paperwork to finally have him released into her custody so he could leave the building without being attacked or hunted down by the DEO again. He hadn’t wanted to go back to the dorms to “pack up” as he’d been instructed, he had nothing to pack up. He didn’t feel like standing in the command center, surrounded by more DEO agents…or having to witness Winn still recovering from their night drinking. So there was little else for him to do. He would NOT intrude on Kara’s private room with the hologram in it, so there was the training room.

He looked up when he heard a door open, only to see it was J’onn and not Kara. “Kara will be along in a moment,” J’onn answered before Mon-El could even ask.

“I thought you couldn’t read my mind,” Mon-El frowned at him in suspicion. 

J’onn nodded. “I can’t. But your face says enough.” He stepped down the stairs and walked over till he was standing a mere two feet from Mon-El. “I am going to give you some basic instructions. You are not to cause problems for the DEO or you will be returned to DEO custody. You are not to attack or injure anyone, human or alien, unless in clear self-defense, or you will be returned to the DEO custody. You will not be involved in any illegal activities, including the use of drugs, or you will be…”

“Returned to DEO custody?” Mon-El finished for him. “I think I get it. Be on my best behavior or get stuck in a cell again.”

“We apologized for that.”

“Yeah, some apology,” Mon-El muttered, before he sighed. “I agreed to the terms and conditions of my release. You don’t have to remind me.”

“I think I do. You see, Kara is like a daughter to me and she is putting an immense amount of trust in you. If you do anything to jeopardize her role as your custodian, it will hurt her. And if you hurt my daughter, you will find out exactly why I became the Martian Manhunter. Understood?”

Mon-El blinked. “If you’re going for the threatening father thing, I’ve heard worse from my own. You’ll have to do better.” He held up a hand when J’onn began to glare at him. “BUT. I have no intentions to make things more difficult for Kara or to hurt her. So we should be silver.”

J’onn paused at that. “Golden.”

“What is?”

“It’s golden, not silver,” J’onn quickly shook his head. “That’s not the point.”

“I got the point,” Mon-El insisted. “You don’t like me, I don’t like you. But we both care about Kara and want this to work for her sake. So let’s just leave it at that.”

“Agreed.” J’onn gave him a stiff nod and turned to leave.

Mon-El scratched the side of his face a moment, internally debating something before sighing and calling out once more. “J’onn.” He waited till the Martian turned to face him. “For what it’s worth. I’m glad you’re not the last Martian.”

“Excuse me?” J’onn tilted his head.

“I heard about M’gann,” Mon-El explained. “And how long you were on Earth before you found her. I am…I AM glad that you aren’t the last.”

J’onn observed Mon-El a moment longer, seeing a genuine sympathy in the man’s face. He relaxed his shoulders minutely, feeling himself more…at ease with the man. He was beginning to see what Kara saw, what Kara hoped for in Mon-El. He wasn’t…a bad person, like he’d thought Daxamites all were. He could see it in his words now, why Kara was so sure he hadn’t attacked the president.

“I…apologize, for holding you in the DEO as we did,” J’onn offered, seeming to surprise Mon-El.

“I wasn’t happy about it,” Mon-El agreed. “I didn’t think you were genuinely sorry before. But I wanted to keep the peace, because you and…and this place are important to Kara.”

J’onn nodded. “We should have trusted Kara and her judgment of you over the hearsay of Daxamite culture. I hope you can understand the policy to apprehend a suspect and hold them till guilt or innocence can be proven. Had you been the true criminal, we could not risk you being released.”

Mon-El had to let out a breath at that. “I do understand. Daxam was similar, I’d assume Earth is too. You hold a suspect for a designated time to see if the crime happens again?” J’onn nodded. “On Daxam we just execute the suspect, so I suppose I can forgive you for merely holding me against my will.”

J’onn cracked a small smile. “Thank you.”

“Although next time I end up in a DEO cell,” Mon-El called when J’onn turned to leave. “I hope there will be less handcuffs and more Zakkarian Ale.”

“We’ll see,” J’onn actually joked, turning to go. He paused in the doorway however and looked back at Mon-El. “For what it’s worth,” he mimicked. “I hope you will not have to wait as long as I did to find another of your kind either.”

Mon-El gave him a small smile, just a quirk of the corner of his mouth. “Thanks.”

“For now though, you are not alone.”

“Yeah,” Mon-El nodded at that. “I have Kara.”

“And the DEO,” J’onn offered. “You have me as well, if you need anything or any extra guidance.”

Mon-El’s small smile grew mre. “Thank you, J’onn.”

“Hey!” Kara’s cheerful voice cut in as she appeared in the doorway beside J’onn. “What’s going on?” she looked between the two, a small frown on her face.

“Just…welcoming Mon-El to Earth,” J’onn spoke, giving Mon-El a nod, which he returned, before he stepped out.

He didn’t know Mon-El as well as Kara, but that brief interaction, the compassion and understanding Mon-El displayed without Kara or anyone else around…it did give him hope that, perhaps, the man might be good enough for Kara.

Not that anyone would ever be good enough for Kara or Alex, not in his book, but he had hope, one day, Mon-El might come close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like J'onn was too "in director mode" if he had to apologize to Mon-El about locking him up, but Mon-El, wanting to not cause Kara strife, would have grinned and bore it. But I feel like, with the news he might be the last Daxamite, and finding out another Last of a Species found another, he would say something to J'onn about it and make himself more of a person to J'onn than another alien suspect or a "friend of Kara's" and that would be a point where he'd actually WANT to apologize and do it genuinely :-)
> 
> I'm looking forward to the next few chapters for the next episode. The CatCo episode was so funny and I'm excited to see how it changes with Kara and Mon-El being friends instead of irritated reluctant mentor and not quite interested student :-)


	10. First Day at CatCo

Mon-El slowly woke to the smell of something…he didn’t know what it was, but it smelled wonderful. He blinked blearily and pushed himself up on the couch of Kara’s apartment, a mess of blankets falling from him to land in a puddle by his waist as he took in the sight around him.

He hadn’t had much chance to really look at Kara’s loft last night. After days on end of tests from the DEO, each of them pushing him to his limits, he’d been exhausted. He’d had enough energy to help Kara prepare the couch for sleeping (after insisting she continue to use her bedroom instead of her trying to play host and offer her bed to him instead) before he’d fallen asleep on it. He’d taken in her loft with more of a weary generalizing, noting books and furniture, and the rooms, but without the wherewithal to actually look too deeply at what made the loft Kara’s.

He’d woken up once, during the night, to Kara shaking him awake, claiming he was having a nightmare of some sort. He couldn’t remember what it was, he assumed it was likely something about Daxam’s destruction, but he couldn’t be sure. He’d fallen asleep quickly again after that, hoping that he hadn’t woken Kara too much that she couldn’t do the same.

Now that he could see her in her kitchen with a pink apron tied around her, he was afraid he’d done just that and kept her awake. It was far too early in the morning to be conscious.

“Hey!” Kara cheered as she moved into the living room area of her loft, sitting on the edge of a coffee table to face him. “You’re up!”

“Yeah…” his words cut off into a yawn and he stretched his arms out above him to work out the cracks in his spine. “No one’s more surprised than me.”

Kara laughed at that. “I hope I didn’t wake you…”

“Only if you count that wonderful smell as you waking me up.”

“It smells good?” she beamed at that when he nodded. “Good. I wasn’t sure what you’d want to eat for your first day at CatCo.”

Mon-El grimaced at that. “Do I really HAVE to?”

“Don’t pout,” she chastised teasingly. “If you want to survive on Earth, you’ll need a job that pays you in Earth currency.”

“I know, you explained that to me on the way here,” he mumbled. “I just…” he scratched the side of his face, trying to find the words. “I’m not sure it’s for me.”

Kara rolled her eyes at that. “You can’t be a prince here,” she reminded him. “And there’s no servants around to do things for you. If you want to keep the DEO unaware of your title, you’ll need to do things for yourself.”

“I didn’t mean that,” Mon-El sighed. “I meant…CatCo is a reporting company?” Kara nodded and he was happy he remembered that much from what she’d been telling him last night. “I wasn’t that interested in reports on Daxam.”

Kara nodded understandingly. “That’s the great thing about being an intern, which is what you’ll be at CatCo. It’s like…an introduction to the business. It’ll let you see what goes on and, from there, you can decide if you like it or not. I just want to help you, Mon-El,” she reached out to rest a hand on his arm. “And that starts with helping you find something to do on Earth. Believe me,” her expression grew solemn. “You’re going to need something to distract you and make you feel useful on the bad days.”

Mon-El had to nod at that. He hadn’t wanted to get a job, as Kara called it, right after being released from the DEO. It was like going from one prison with all their rules to another one, with the only benefit being he would be paid for being present in the second prison. He really…he just wanted a few days to just absorb everything, to take it in and process it.

But Kara claimed that this would help. That having a hobby or a job, some reason to get up in the morning would help him even better. He needed a reason to leave her loft, somewhere to go that he felt at peace with, and something to do to help him focus his attention when he felt overwhelmed with thoughts of Daxam. He felt, deep down, that it had been her own way to cope, or something she had learned later in how she interacted on Earth. A part of him felt like…it wouldn’t be the same for him. Kryptonians and Daxamites processed grief and trauma VERY differently. What worked for Kara or what helped her might not help him.

But, he supposed, there was nothing wrong with trying her method at least. As she said, this was all about finding things that worked for him.

“I can think of a few things that would do exactly that without the work involved,” Mon-El joked.

But Kara’s expression turned sad at his words. “No drinking and no drugs,” she shut him down. “Not while you’re in my custody. Not while you live under my roof.”

“Yes, mother,” Mon-El rolled his eyes.

Kara huffed as she stood, “I’m not your mother. Now come on, breakfast is almost ready.” She paused as she moved to head into the kitchen, her rather maternal sounding words registering with her. “Don’t say anything!” she called to him as he laughed and followed her off, ready to eat whatever she’d made.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

As it turned out, much to the surprise of Mon-El, getting ready for a day at CatCo required far more planning than he thought it would. Kara had had him sit on a chair while she used her heatvision (which he finally got to witness) to cut his now indestructible hair. She fed him something called pancakes, which were delicious, even more so when he tried them with syrup. Then she had him try on different outfits…which led to one shirt too small and one too big and one just right. Kara had laughed for some reason when he called that out to her when he was almost ready to reveal himself.

Her expression when he stepped out of the bathroom door to show off his outfit was with it though. She had just beamed it him, her eyes wide, looking so pleased and happy with him that he felt himself smiling too…despite how odd he looked in a “bowtie” as it was called on earth.

“That's perfect!” Kara cheered.

“Yeah?” he glanced down at himself. This wasn’t his preferred style if he had to pick it, but it seemed to be a thing on Earth to dress entirely differently than you wanted to while “at work” instead of “at home.”

“Yes, now you just need glasses…”

“Oh!” he cheered. “I have got that covered, thank you!” He quickly pulled out a set of glasses that were darkened where the lenses should be, putting them on and smiling at her for her opinion.

“No, no, no, no,” Kara laughed, reaching out to gently take them off him. “Like real glasses, like mine.” She put her glasses on for show. “Well, they're not real. But, they keep it so that no one knows I'm Supergirl.”

“I'm pretty sure no one's gonna mistake me for Supergirl,” he joked.

“No, no, but maybe someday you will want to help people the way I do. In which case, these will come in handy. So no one knows Mon-El is Mike.”

“Who’s Mike?”

“You are, Mike Matthews.”

“I’m Mon-El.” He pointed at himself in confusion.

“And I’m Kara Zor-El,” she agreed. “But on Earth, it’s best if no one knows that or where we’re from. It’s common knowledge Supergirl is from Krypton. If I go around with a Kryptonian name…”

“People would figure it out.” Mon-El nodded, understanding the need for a “human” name. “But I still don’t understand how they WOULDN’T figure out you’re Supergirl just because of a pair of glasses?” He reached out to take hers off, looking at her, and putting them back on, then taking them off and back on to her amusment. “Yeah. It’s sort of really obvious you’re just Supergirl with glasses on…”

Kara rolled her eyes. “You’d be surprised how little humans tend to see of a person when there are glasses involved.” She pulled hers off and looked down at them. “It’s like they just see the glasses and not the person who wears them.”

Mon-El frowned at that, reaching out to take the glasses from her. He looked into her eyes as he put them back on her nose, tilting his head as he observed her. “I see you.”

Kara smiled softly at that before reaching up to put the glasses she had gotten him onto his face as well. “I see you too.”

“Well, I guess it’s not that bad then,” Mon-El remarked. 

Kara nodded at that, just looking at him in his glasses, willing herself to believe he DIDN’T look adorable in them and shook her head firmly. “Uh, right, so Winn got you a birth certificate, Social Security card and everything.”

“Oh,” Mon-El took the cards she handed him, reading the information on them. “498-00-3145…”

“And soon you will get your FICO score!”

Mon-El laughed. “I don't know what any of those words mean.”

“It's ok,” she reassured him. “You'll learn.”

Mon-El pocketed the cards. “Thank you, Kara, for helping me be more Human.”

“Of course,” she remarked. She turned and grabbed her purse, “Ready to go?”

Mon-El gave a nod, following her out the door for his first day of work.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Mon-El was still trying to understand why the woman in the green apron had told him to “be careful, it’s hot” when she handed over a cardboard square that held five white cups of some odd liquid in them minutes later as he and Kara stepped out of an elevator and into CatCo. He couldn’t really feel any heat coming from it, but observing the humans around, he could see the containers were meant to be hot. 

“When I first started working here,” Kara was explaining why they even needed to buy so many containers. “I found it helpful to bring coffee to the other assistants to make new friends.”

“Ah,” he nodded. “Bribery, got it. We have that on Daxam.”

The more he learned about humans, the more similarities he could see between them and his people. They weren’t quite on the level of Daxamites, but there were little things they did that he could see glimpses of a Daxamtie culture in.

“No!” Kara hurried to say. “It's not bribery, it's just niceness.”

“Hi!” Mon-El greeted the women behind a desk that Kara gestured to, offering them the drinks, coffee he had to remind himself, in return for greetings of “good morning.” He pulled back quickly though when his ears picked up a mess of beeping alarms going off. “What are those alarms for?”

“No,” Kara chuckled. “No, they're not alarms, come here. That's a phone.” She led him past a desk, pointing at the phone to educate him on it. “You pick it up and you say, "Hello, this is Catco, how may I help you?" Oh!” she spotted another coworker, “You definitely want to give Eve Teschmacher a coffee. She is James' assistant, the big boss.” 

Mon-El nodded as Kara lead him over to another blonde woman sitting behind a desk. Her hair was…similar to Kara’s, but much lighter and curlier. She had light eyes, like Kara, but they weren’t as vibrant as Kara’s. And she smiled widely in greeting when Kara called out to her, but her smile was too…toothy. Her voice sounded excited and cheerful though, which was something Kara had in common with her.

“Eve, have you met our new intern?” Kara led them over.

The woman’s expression morphed into an open mouthed gape as she looked at him, which made him grin in return. It was good to know he was still clearly appealing to Earth women as much as he was to Daxamite women.

Kara’s smile grew tense as she looked between Eve, who was STILL staring at Mon-El…going so far as to drop her pen at the sight of him…to Mon-El as he leaned in to offer her a cup of coffee which seemed to put an even wider smile back on Eve’s face.

…maybe coffee wasn’t the best thing to bring.

“Thank you so much!” Eve leaned in to take the drink.

Kara nearly gripped her drink too tightly at how Eve seemed to make sure her fingers brushed with Mon-El’s as he handed it over.

“What's your name?” Eve rested an elbow on the table, lifting her other hand to twirl a strand of hair on her finger.

“Mike,” he greeted. “Number 49800…”

“No,” Kara laughed tensely. “No, Mike. You don't need to give her your social security number.”

Mon-El frowned at that. “So I memorized that fake ID for nothing?”

“You mean your real ID?!”

“…yes,” Mon-El said slowly, before he turned back to Eve with an apologetic smile. “Hi. Mike.”

“Is that short for Michael?” Eve began to ask. “I’ve always thought that was a strong and s…”

“Oh, James!” Kara cut in, “Sorry, Eve, have to introduce our new intern to the boss.” She quickly reached out to take Mon-El’s arm, leading the confused man towards James.

“IS Mike short for Michael?” he asked her quietly.

“Yes,” she said quickly, before straightening up as they reached James at the doorway to his office. “James, I want to introduce you to our new intern, Mike.”

James nodded at the way she emphasized “Mike,” understanding. “Right, Mike. Welcome to CatCo.”

Mon-El eyed James up and down a moment. “You're…you're the big boss?”

“That I am,” James smiled proudly.

“Huh,” Mon-El considered it. For how Kara talked on the way there about her last boss, a Ms. Grant, he had expected someone a lot more…hardened and no-nonsense to greet him. Not a charming, smiling man. “I kind of expected someone a little more intimidating.”

He hadn’t meant it as a bad thing. He was actually really pleased to see this man was in charge of things. The way Kara spoke of this Grant woman, he could tell she had a large amount of respect for her, but hadn’t always been pleased with the woman’s tactics or how she spoke to her over things. Some of the things she recalled in “funny” stories about Ms. Grant, the things this woman said to Kara and about Kara…it reminded him of his parents more…kind moments. A mentor was to ensure you grew to your full potential and guided you, being firm when need be…but some things Kara said Grant spoke to her seemed more cruel and degrading than encouraging or firm. 

He might just not understand the context or situation, or how it helped Kara in the end. They hadn’t gotten that in depth with her talk of Grant. But a part of him wasn’t fond of the woman just from what he heard. He respected her, and he was thankful Kara had such a strong woman in her life to help guide her, but a part of him just kept picturing the little girl from Krypton being spoken to like that and starting to cry. 

He was glad the man before him seemed kinder and more relax, more understanding and good-natured. Sometimes intimidation from those meant to rule over you was the worst way to gain loyalty or productivity. He could tell Kara would thrive in a place where she was encouraged and treated with understanding like the man before him radiated.

James seemed to take his words the wrong way though as he cleared his throat and got straight to business. “I had Miss Teschmacher put some reports on your desk that should be put in order and filed. So, if you have any questions, my doors are always open.”

“Oh,” Mon-El nodded, a little startled by the minute change in tone James now spoke to him in. “Thanks. And hey, sorry I ran out of bribery coffees.” He held up the empty container.

“That's ok.” James gave him an easy nod. “I'm actually about to go get one myself.”

“Can I go with you?” Kara asked quickly.

“Of course you can. I'll be at the elevator.”

“Ok.” Kara waited till James turned to go before she led Mon-El over to a desk near the windows. 

“Why would you take the elevator?” he asked. “It'd be so much quicker to just fly from floor to floor.”

“Mon-El!” she hissed, glancing around.

“Mike,” he corrected.

“Mike,” she sighed. “Mike. I told you, we can never to show our powers to anyone else. That's the whole point of the clothes and the glasses.”

“Right, sorry.”

“It’s ok.” She stopped by a desk empty of everything except necessities and a stack of folders. “This is your desk.”

He began to nod…before her words caught up to him. “Wait, so you're saying I can't use my powers to go through this giant pile of boring paper?”

“No, of course not.”

He leaned against the desk to turn to face her, crossing his arms, an amused look on his face. “And you're telling me that you've NEVER used your powers to do these menial tasks?”

Kara scoffed, her eyebrows scrunching. “Never. No. Not once.”

He just smiled at her.

“What?”

“You still have that little crinkle you get when you lie,” he told her, pointing to the center of his own brow.

“I do not!” she defended. “I’ve never had a crinkle.”

“You did when you were 8, and you’re crinkling right now, so…”

“I don't have a crinkle!”

“You're crinkling at the moment,” he continued to tease.

Kara opened her mouth to keep arguing, when the phone on the desk rang, giving her a chance to change the subject. “It's your first phone call. Think you can handle it?”

Mon-El nodded, “Yeah.” He turned and leaned over to…talk at the phone. “Hello, this is CatCo. How may I help you?”

But the phone kept ringing…till Kara picked it off the receiver and held it up to him with a pointed look. 

“Ah,” Mon-El gave her an embarrassed smile, taking it from her to repeat his message as Kara shook her head fondly and walked away. "Hello, this is CatCo. How may I help you." He paused to listen to the person on the other end, his expression morphing into a deep frown. "Um...the...the licensing department? I have no idea what that is." He blinked and frowned, looking down at the phone when it began to make a rapid beeping noise. "Hello?" he called again, but there was no answer. So, slowly, he placed the phone back down and hoped no one else would call. Because...if someone wanted the licensing department, whatever that was, HOW could he even give that department the call instead?

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Kara sighed as she and James left the latest meeting in his office. It was supposed to be a quick coffee run, simple, absolutely minor. But, of course, as would happen to Supergirl, a robbery occurred. And, of course, because she was trying to give aliens a good name, the robbers had superpowered alien weapons that were able to hurt even HER. They got away, one of James’s most important possessions had been destroyed, and it was already breaking news that some humans now had alien weapons and people were panicking. She felt awful that she hadn’t been able to stop them and reassure the public more.

“James, I don't know what to do,” she muttered. “Andranian cannons, Pytharian magma bombs? These are weapons that are far more advanced than anything we had on Krypton. Cadmus doesn't care who gets hurt in trying to make sure all aliens get a bad name.”

“Yeah, well, I'm sure you and the DEO will figure something out,” he sighed.

Kara frowned at the tone in his voice. “Don't sound so defeatist or anything.”

“I'm sorry. I just I just don't feel like there's a lot that I can do to help behind Cat's desk.”

“You help.”

“I couldn't even save my dad's camera.”

Kara reached out to try and reassure him…when she spotted Eve walking past with a pile of folders bigger than her head. “Are you turning into Miss Grant? How much work did you give that girl?!”

“I didn't give her anything!” James defended.

Kara hurried over to Eve’s side as she nearly dropped half of them. “Eve, hey, hey, Eve, let me help you.”

“Oh, thanks, Kara!” Eve smiled at her, letting Kara take the half she’d almost spilled as she dropped the rest on her desk carefully.

“And those were the yearly quarterly reports that MIKE was supposed to do,” James remarked, crossing his arms.

“Oh, Mike,” Eve began to gush. “He is so nice. He was really struggling with his work and it's his first day. So I was just trying to help him out. He's so nice.”

James sighed and turned to Kara. “You want to get this or you want me to get it?”

“No, I’ll get it,” she decided, heading over to Mon-El’s desk where he was sitting back in the chair, his feet up, eating Red Vines. “What are you doing?!”

“Eating these red tubes,” he answered, holding one up to her. “They're amazing. Like pure joy in food form.”

“No, Mon-El,” she snatched one from him, ignoring how he muttered “Mike” to her in reminder at her slip of his name again. “There's a time and a place for eating candy.”

“Yeah, and it's this time and this place.”

“No, this…this is your place of work!” she chastised. “So when James gives you a task, you should be the one to complete it.”

“Ok, I can understand that,” Mon-El put his feet down and sat up to face her more. “But there’s just one problem with that.”

“And what’s that?” Kara crossed her arms, feeling irritated with him for the first time. It was probably just the entire day getting to her, her failure before, the people’s fear, her frustrations with her coworkers trying to make it worse in the media. But right now she was NOT in the mood to have to clean up his mess while trying to fix her own.

“You didn’t exactly show me how to do the task James gave me,” he pointed out. “He said put it in order and file it. In what order? Date? Name? Subject? And WHERE do I file them? Do different folders get filed in different places? Is it filed in this room? Another room? Another floor? Kara…I have no idea what I’m doing. I thought I could wait till you got back to ask you or ask James, because even if his doors is open it doesn’t help if he’s not in there, but it took a really long time and then there was that meeting you were in. I had three different people ask me if I’d finished before Eve finally offered to help me.”

Kara blinked at that, realizing…he was entirely right. She and James had given him a task but not actually told him how to DO that task. That was like someone walking into a Starbucks and being told to prepare a Triple Venti Skim Extra Dry Half-Caf Cappacino with one shot of French Vanilla and having no idea what any of those words actually mean or how to use the machines or where any of the supplies were to do it. And then have the customer breathing down your neck as you failed to give them what they wanted fast enough.

“I’m sorry, Mon-El…”

“Mike,” he reminded her.

She winced, “Mike,” she corrected herself. “You’re right. I didn’t think of any of that, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine…”

“No, it’s not. I’m supposed to be your mentor and help you and I just walked out.” She let out a long breath. “I wasn’t planning to be that long either. But some men committed a robbery and they had Andranian cannons and…”

Mon-El quickly stood up. “Are you ok?”

She gave him a soft smile at how he’d likely been so stressed and lost during that entire time, but still didn’t blame her and was worried about her. “I’m fine. It winded me,” she added when she saw him giving her a knowing look. “But it just knocked me back.”

“It must not have been at full power,” he mused, unknowingly mirroring Winn’s earlier words to her. “I’ve seen canons like that do some…some serious damage Kara.”

“Winn told me,” she agreed. “The DEO is working on a way to deal with them.”

“But you’re ok?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

“And I’m sorry for getting caught up in the meeting,” Kara added after a moment of quiet. “But if Eve offered to help you, you shouldn’t have just given her all your work. You should have had her show you what to do.”

“She insisted,” Mon-El defended lightly. “She wanted to please me. On Daxam, when a woman wishes to please a man…”

Kara grimaced. “I don’t want to know. I really don’t. I was 12 the last time I was on Daxam but I can guess now. And I still don’t want to know.”

Mon-El began to chuckle at that, when a voice called out for Kara.

She turned quickly to see Lena Luthor heading for them. “Lena! Surprise visit to CatCo?”

“No, I'm here to see you, actually.”

“You are?”

“Yeah. L-Corp is hosting a party this weekend. It's for a gala fundraiser for the Children's Hospital after that horrific attack on their new building. I was hoping you'd come.”

“Gala?” Mon-El stepped to Kara’s side. He’d heard party and that was enough for him. “Is that like a party?”

“Something like that,” Kara nodded. 

“You are literally my only friend in National City,” Lena told her. “Most people wouldn't touch a Luthor with a 10-foot pole. It would mean a lot to me if you were there.”

“Of course I'll come,” Kara agreed. “I'm honored.”

“I love parties,” Mon-El smiled charmingly. “Can I come, too?”

Kara laughed at that, she should have known, and smiled at Lena. “This is my friend, Mike Matthews,” she introduced. “Mike, this is Lena Luthor.”

Mon-El reached out to shake her hand, being mindful of his strength. “Mike.”

“Always nice to meet a friend of Kara’s,” Lena greeted. “And of course you can come. Find yourself a nice suit, and I'll see you there. Bye.”

Kara waved at Lena as she started to walk off, when Mon-El leaned over to whisper, “What’s a suit?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like Kara would have more patience with Mon-El having been friends with him than just seeing him as a Daxamite like in the show, and Mon-El would have more backbone to actually SAY things to her than just constantly be worried he'd done something wrong that she'd yell at him for :-)
> 
> But that part bothered me in the show, about Kara in general, how she kept getting frustrated with Mon-El's performance at CatCo when she really set him up for failure herself. She didn't explain the filing system, or how to really answer the phone, or what to do once the person on the phone told him how he could help, or how to transfer calls or who even to transfer them to to have a specific question answered :-( I just felt so bad because even if he tried off screen, his efforts would just make it worse and make her even more mad that he didn't "pick it up" as quickly. 
> 
> Don't get me wrong, I fully understand that it was intentional by the writers, to make Kara's sort of role as mentor and how SHE has to put in effort too more clear to her and viewers. Which means they did a great job if I was bothered by Kara's handling of the situation. But it still made me feel for Mon-El to be in that situation :-(
> 
> And, can I just say, I relate to the Starbucks comment Kara makes SO much. It is literally like that even after working in a cafe setting for over a year. There's always that customer who places the ridiculous order and then stands right next to the machines to watch you make it and question you at every singe step and then not tell you when you've accidently done something wrong (even when they SEE you do it) until you've finished it and they sip it and go "this is disgusting. You made it wrong. I asked for HALF-CAF not decaf!" and then you have to make it again and drinks are piling up and other people are grumbling about "what's taking so long" and all you can do is say "I'm the only one making drinks, I can only make so many at a time. It will be a minute" even though you're DYING to tell them "You know what, you're more than welcome to come back here and make your drink yourself" but you know you'll get fired if you sass them that much :-( Yeah, always be extra kind, patient, and considerate to your servers and food/drink preparers folks :-)


	11. Second and Third Day at CatCo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little bitty warning of some minor Eve/Mon-El moment, but the reaction and revelation it brings forth will, I think, make up for it ;-)

Kara frowned as she walked through CatCo trying to find Mon-El who, of course, wasn’t at his desk and she was really, REALLY hoping he was just running an errand or dropping off a file to another department. She’d spent as much of her morning as she could with him, walking him through CatCo and introducing him to the other departments. She had taken his words to heart and really tried to show him how to be an intern. She wasn’t sure she’d actually managed it though, what with getting called away for her actual job and meetings and Supergirl things. She just wanted to check in. It was nearly lunch and she was going to take him to the cafeteria and show him some Earth foods, see how his day was going. But he was nowhere.

“Kara,” someone called out and she glanced back to see James hurrying towards her. “Have you seen the news? Sixty-three percent of people now support repealing the Alien Amnesty Act. And that's after I published the piece about CADMUS and these other terrorist groups exploiting social media.”

“Yeah,” Kara sighed. “Snapper wants me to write an objective piece about it. I don't know how I'm supposed to be objective when I know what they're actually up to.” She frowned as she looked around. “Have you seen Mon-El? I mean, Mike?”

There was an odd expression on James’s face just then, a small frown she couldn’t place. Maybe it was disappointment? They had just been talking about something really serious for alien welfare and she HAD switched topics to Mon-El. But, he WAS an alien too, and being so new to Earth, she couldn’t help but fear he’d gotten himself in some sort of trouble. With the new threat to aliens out there, her mind kept jumping to the worst case scenarios of him stepping out of the building and getting attacked…

Oh Rao. Was THIS how he’d felt when she’d visit Daxam? She had always been a rambunctious and curious child, had wandered off from his watch a time or two and he always seemed overly worried when he found her again. Was THIS what she’d put him through as a kid?

“I asked him to take this,” James spoke, pulling her from her thoughts as he picked up a file from Mon-El’s desk. “Down to marketing like two hours ago.”

Kara’s face scrunched as she focused her hearing, trying to pick up on his voice, assuming he might just be caught up talking with the other interns. 

Unfortunately what her ears picked up was NOT anything she EVER wanted to hear from ANYONE in the building.

Eve was panting, “Mike, do you have protection?”

And there was Mon-El’s voice, equally as breathless, “You mean, like a sword?”

“Oh, God,” she shuddered at the sheer surprise of hearing THAT happening. “Get it out of my ears!” She turned and quickly hurried off, ignoring James as she rushed past him, following the noises the two were making to a small supply room. She threw open the door and stumbled back into the wall when she saw them there.

Eve was on a small table, with her legs around Mon-El’s waist, his arms around her with his shirt open, the two breaking away from an intense kiss at the sound of the door opening.

“What…are you two doing?!” Kara demanded, her heart racing, “I mean, I know what you're doing…” She had to look away from them, swallowing hard as a surprising emotion cut through her at the sight of them, at the knowledge of where they were going with this. She forced it down, not wanting to even entertain what it meant and focused on her anger and irritation at having caught them both being so unprofessional. It was the safer of two emotions. “Just stop doing it!”

Eve giggled as she slid off the table, straightening her dress. “Kara, this is not what it looks like…”

Kara shook her head, blinking rapidly in what she was sure seemed to be disbelief to them…but the way Mon-El was frowning at her…she was sure he could see something a little more shiny in her eyes. “This is the definition of something looking like what it looks like!” She closed her eyes tightly and rubbed her forehead. “Just go, Eve.”

Mon-El watched as Eve scurried out of the room while he tried to set himself to rights. He glanced at Kara with a deep frown, before trying to lighten the very tense mood that had settled around just the two of them. “I think I might have more powers on Earth than we realized,” he joked. “Do you think that I can make any woman fall instantly for me?”

“No, you can't,” Kara said sternly, turning on her heel to storm away, leaving him to hurry after her. “What were you thinking?”

“You said I shouldn’t have let Eve take all those folders,” Mon-El began. “I wanted to make it up to her, to thank her…”

"Thank her?" Kara had to repeat.

For one moment, one very brief, microsecond of a moment...Kara's mind flashed to something else entirely. She was helping him on Earth, she was helping to guide him and teach him and help him learn about the planet. And that...warranted thanks. For that one microscopic second, she couldn't stop her mind flashing to the storage room, to Mon-El with his arms around HER like that, to the imagined feel of his lips on hers, her hands on his bare chest, him "thanking" her for her help.

And her stomach twisted because there was a momentary jolt inside her, a question of how she would feel if it had been her...before the image shifted back to Mon-El and Eve, over and over, and a cold, devastating feeling filled her gut and she latched onto that. Anger. Anger she could do. Anger was safe.

“And you thought the best way to do that was to have sex in the storage closet!” Kara hissed, that very, very powerful anger in her voice.

Mon-El’s expression morphed into confusion as well…because anger wasn’t the only thing he could hear, not with his superhearing now settling. He reached out to grab her arm lightly, stopping her and turning her to face him. “Kara…are you ok?”

“Am I ok!?” she snapped. “No, Mon-El…”

“Mike…”

“Mike!” she nearly shouted, before seeming to realize she was still around her coworkers and dropping her voice. “No. I am not ok. What you were doing is NOT ok!”

“But there was this one show about doctors doing that and it seemed ok…”

“This is not a TV show!” Kara huffed, cutting in. 

“Ok,” he nodded. “Ok, I understand. No sex at CatCo.”

“No sex with Eve,” Kara added. “No sex with any Earth woman.”

He was about to comment on how that was taking things a bit far, when a thought struck him. He was superstrong now and if the way things went on Daxam were anything like how humans engaged in intercourse…he felt a cold chill settle over him at the realization he could actually HURT someone by trying to be with them like that. He had always been a passionate lover to his partners, wanting to make them feel as good as he was, but…he could admit, it was difficult to not get lost in the sensations, to lose focus, to feel too much and let go. 

He had barely a conscious control of his strength when it came to shaking people’s hands or patting them on the back. If he even TRIED to do something like that with a partner on earth…he could actually hurt them.

He swallowed hard. “Ok,” he agreed. “Sex with aliens only.”

“No sex ever!” Kara actually shouted at that, flushing when her coworkers looked over at them.

“Kara…” Mon-El began, but Kara had already hurried away from him, leaving him to awkwardly smile at the others. “As you were?” he offered.

He let out a breath of relief when they just shrugged and went back to their work, though his eyes fell in the direction Kara had gone, a deep frown on his face. Something was upsetting her…and he knew it probably had something to do with him, but he just…didn’t know what.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Kara nearly stomped as she headed towards her loft door, still upset about Mon-El and his time at CatCo (with Eve) even the next day. Oh, but, of course, it hadn’t ended with his brief stint with her in the storage closet. No. She’d had to go into work the next day to see him talking to her at her desk, the two of them laughing, and then later see them in the cafeteria, eating together and talking, and later Eve sitting on Mon-El’s desk as he offered her a “red tube” while Eve explained to him the transfer call system.

He’d nearly gotten fired because he and Eve’s lunch had run over. Eve had the excuse of having an hour for lunch, but Mon-El was only allowed 20 minutes as an intern and he’d gone past that by 40 minutes and it was nearing James’s last straw with him.

And now she was just a mess of emotions because she’d been out as Supergirl early that morning and hadn’t been able to make sure he’d gotten to work on time or at all and a part of her hadn’t wanted to be there. A part of her actually wanted him to miss work and be fired and that was just awful and she felt so awful about it and horrible and what sort of mentor DID that?

(It had nothing to do with the fact that, if he was fired, he’d be around Eve less. Absolutely NOTHING.)

She was just so upset and annoyed and irritated and…another emotion she didn’t want to even think about and…

Why was Alex standing outside her door eating a donut?

“A donut?” Kara called as she approached her sister. “You never eat sugar in the middle of the day. What's wrong?”

Alex sighed as Kara opened the door leading her into the loft. “I'm feeling confused about something.” She frowned when Kara half threw her purse onto a table and nearly yanked her jacket off. “Your steps were exceptionally stompy just now. You alright?”

Kara scoffed. “Where do I start? Mark almost got fired today.”

“Who?”

“Mark…Mike!” Kara corrected. “Mon-El.”

“What happened?”

“He ran over his lunch break by 40 minutes.”

“Did anyone tell him, as an intern, his lunch is only 20?” Alex had to ask, recalling Kara’s complaints when she had been an intern at CatCo during college about how she couldn’t be expected to eat all she needed to in 20 minutes without superspeed.

Kara froze from where she was getting them two bottles of soda from her fridge. She tensed in a way that Alex knew something more than just a lunch break was bothering her. “I helped him get a new identity. I helped him get an internship. I even got him a new pair of glasses for a disguise in case he wants to put on a cape and help people the way I do. But I forget to tell him about his lunch!?”

“Hey…it’s ok,” Alex reached out to pat the table before her, signaling for Kara to sit. “There’s a lot to explain to someone new to Earth. I get it. Sometimes things slip through the cracks.”

“Alex, I let EVERYTHING slip through the cracks!” Kara pulled off her glasses to rub her eyes. “I’m a terrible mentor. I told him to organize reports, but not in what order. I told him to file them, but not where. I told him to make friends, but not to not have sex with them at work…”

“Whoa, whoa,” Alex shook her head, getting whiplash. “How did not telling him about files become office sex?”

Kara looked away at that. “I walked in on him and Eve rounding second base in a supply closet.”

Alex let out a low whistle. “I would not have thought Eve had that in her…”

“That’s not the point Alex!” Kara actually snapped at her sister.

Alex frowned at that. “Hey.” She reached out to put her hand on Kara’s arm, squeezing it. “What’s going on?”

Kara was far, far too upset for it to just be her failings as a mentor. This went…this went above and beyond a little frustration. She had seen Kara frustrated before at her own shortcomings, and she had seen Kara genuinely upset and not wanting to admit something was bothering her. This was the latter.

“Nothing,” Kara sniffled.

Alex gave her a look. “I’m your sister, Kara. If you can’t tell me what’s upsetting you, who can you tell?”

“I’m not upset.” The tears in her eyes begged to differ. “Ok, I’m a little upset…”

Alex lifted her brows at that. “Kara…”

“I wanted to be angry,” Kara admitted quietly, her voice breaking. “I was. I was so angry to see Mon-El and Eve but…but I was…” she struggled to say it. “It hurt,” she finally got out in a rush. “Alex it hurt, so much. And I…I don’t…it shouldn’t have HURT to see him with her like that and I don’t…I don’t know why. Why did it hurt, Alex?”

“Oh, Kara,” Alex quickly got up from her seat to move around the table, pulling Kara into her arms as her younger sister started to cry. It took…a hell of a lot to get Supergirl to actually cry in front of anyone. And a part of her wanted to hunt Mon-El down and tear him apart limb from limb (somehow, she’d find a way, the DEO HAD to have the resources somewhere) for making her sister cry. But another part of her rationalized that…Mon-El likely had no idea it had even happened. 

KARA herself had no idea why she was this upset, Mon-El as an alien and a male (she was sure) would be just as clueless if not more.

“Hey,” Alex murmured, stroking Kara’s hair as she gently rocked her back and forth. “It’s ok. I know it hurts when…” she swallowed hard, her mind flashing to Maggie, to the brief peck she’d seen the woman receive from another woman. “When you see someone you might like?” Her voice came out a question, the confusion she was feeling when she first arrived at Kara’s taking over before she shoved it down, right now KARA needed her big sister more than her big sister needed to figure herself out. “Like someone else.”

“I don’t like him like that.” 

Alex actually had to laugh at that. Kara’s own words sounded so weak and forced. But there WAS a note of insistence in it. She took it with a grain of salt though. Kara really had no idea WHY it had HURT her to see Mon-El with another woman. And it made sense when she looked at Kara's past. She'd never really liked someone that way, nor had any kind of intense feelings for them in a way that would cause such a powerful reaction if she saw them with another person. A few human boys here and there that she kissed was one thing, but to actually "like like" them as Kara would put it? She wasn't sure Kara had even liked James that much. She had seen him with his girlfriend numerous times and while it was awkward and she was always left feeling like she'd never have what he had, Alex honestly couldn't remember a time Kara was THIS upset over James being with someone else.

Mon-El, it seemed, hit her differently. Maybe it was because they'd known each other on Krypton and Daxam. Maybe it was because Kara had had a crush on him with no closure, one that hadn't fizzled away of her own choice but through circumstances causing it to be cut short. Maybe it was just their shared alien culture and being on Earth together that had created a stronger bond than Kara could create with a human. She didn't know, all she knew was Kara was hurting over this and didn't know why and it was her job as big sister to help her work through it.

“So you didn’t want to claw Eve’s eyes out and rip her hair off?”

Kara stiffened in her arms. “…how did you know?”

“I’ve felt the same,” Alex murmured, pushing down that confusion again. She pulled away to look Kara in the eyes. “It’s ok if you like him like that, Kara,” she told her sister. “You had a crush on him once before, right?”

Kara took a deep breath, seeing how serious Alex was, how she wasn’t in teasing-sister-mode but wise-sister-mode now. And nodded, finally admitting it. “I was twelve though.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Alex stated. “Feelings can go away, or they can stick around, or they can grow and change. I think you know that better than anyone?” she gave her a pointed look and Kara looked away, knowing she was referring to James. “You like Mon-El, Kara,” Alex continued. “And it hurt you to see him, like that, with Eve.”

Kara seemed to consider her words and started to shake her head. “I…I don’t like him like that. He’s…he’s a friend and…and Eve’s a friend. And I was just concerned about her safety.”

“Sure you were,” Alex deadpanned, exasperated, and not for the first time, with how Kara’s skull was literally super-thick if she was still trying to deny it. “So concerned you wanted to maim her yourself for touching your man.”

“He’s not my man,” Kara flushed.

“But you want him to be,” Alex finished, rubbing Kara’s arms. “Kara, it IS ok for you to like him.”

Kara was silent, “But it’s not.”

Alex frowned at how quiet her words were. “Why not?”

“Because…it’s…it’s not fair,” she explained in a rush. “It’s…it’s not fair to James or Mon-El or…or even Winn and…”

“And what does Winn or James have to do with that?” Alex had to shake her head. 

“I JUST told James I couldn’t be with him because I needed time to figure out how to be Kara,” Kara explained. “It wouldn’t be fair if I just…suddenly start dating Mon-El when nothing else has really changed. He’ll think I just…don’t like him like that.”

“But you don’t,” Alex stated, trying to follow Kara’s logic. Her sister had the biggest heart on the planet, she knew that, of COURSE she’d be concerned with James’s feelings for her and how he might take the situation. That she turned him down and yet suddenly took up with Mon-El.

“That’s not the point,” Kara looked away. She felt so…ashamed…that a part of her wanted what Alex was implying. That she wanted that relationship with Mon-El so she kept forcing it down. Because it wasn’t fair to James. They’d JUST had a chance at a relationship, and she’d turned him down with the excuse of needing time for herself…and yet if she started a relationship with Mon-El, it made her excuse to James invalid.

“Well then you shouldn’t have agreed to mentor Mon-El then,” Alex stated dryly, making Kara look at her. “Because that’s A relationship, Kara. Maybe not a romantic one, but it takes probably even more time than a romantic relationship. You would have to dedicate all your spare time to helping him adjust, and you agreed. James HAS to realize that your reasons to him aren’t quite what they seemed by now.”

Kara looked down at that, praying to Rao it wasn’t the case. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt anyone or make them feel like they weren’t good enough. HAD she sent that message to James unknowingly? Had she, in choosing to mentor Mon-El, basically told James she was picking the alien over him? She really hoped not.

“And you don’t owe James anything,” Alex added. “What you do with YOUR life is YOUR choice, not his. Hell, it’s...it's not even mine.” She took a deep breath as her earlier actions came back to her thoughts. “If you wanted to move to Metropolis, I should have supported you,” she admitted. “Because it is YOUR life, not mine and…the choices I’ve made, I made, not you. You didn’t ask me to make them, I made those choices myself. Whether they were FOR you or with you in mind, that wasn’t a burden or a guilt I should have put on you. I don’t want to hold you back from anything you want, Kara, because I love you and I want you to be happy. And if James cares about you at all, he’d want the same. It may sting at first, but…that’s what truly caring about someone means, wanting the best for them.”

Kara smiled at that, touched by Alex’s words. She reached up to wipe the tears from her cheeks. “Thanks, Alex.”

Alex nodded. “So. James is a non-issue. Why does Winn factor into it?”

Kara flushed slightly. “Pretty much the same reason. He was…he was a friend to me for years and he liked me. I feel like he’d be really upset if I just suddenly liked Mon-El when he’s only been on Earth barely two weeks.”

“But you’ve known Mon-El longer than Winn,” Alex pointed out. “You’ve liked him longer than you’ve even known Winn. I don’t think he can hold it against you. And, Kara, it really is YOUR life to lead. You worry about everyone else so much, worry about yourself and what makes YOU happy.”

Kara started to smile, but it faded. “What if what makes me happy, doesn’t make someone else as happy?”

“Are we talking about Mon-El now?”

Kara nodded, swallowing hard. “I just…he just lost his planet, he lost all his people. I meant it before, Alex, he’s not in any condition to start a relationship. And if Eve is any example, maybe he doesn’t want one.”

"Maybe a stable relationship is exactly what he needs," Alex mused. "If he hasn't ever really had one, had that one person he can rely on and trust, someone who can give him comfort and love and understanding, maybe he doesn't know he needs it. Maybe what he was doing with Eve is all he knows. Daxam and Krypton were really different planets."

"You have NO idea," Kara mumbled.

"How you handled your grief on Earth, what helped you cope, may not be what Mon-El needs," Alex reasoned. "And, like you said, you were a kid when you would visit Daxam. How much do you REALLY know about their customs?" Kara was silent at that. "Maybe he's trying to cope the only way he knows, through Daxamite methods. And maybe it works for him, maybe it doesn't, maybe Earth techniques would work better. He's lost everything, Kara, but it seems to me like anyone who loses that much needs something permanent and stable in their life. You are the most permanent and stable person I know." Alex reached out to sling an arm over Kara's shoulders. “He would be crazy to pass up a relationship with you." 

“He’s said it a few times, how he keeps seeing me as…as that little girl from Krypton,” Kara added, looking down. “What if he just sees her and not ME? What if he never does? I may…” she took a breath, finally admitting it out loud. “I may like him like him, Alex, but what if he doesn’t like me like me?”

Alex had to smile at how Kara phrased that with “like likes,” she was just so Kara that way. “Like I said, he’d be crazy not to like you like you.”

“Alex, be serious. What do I do?”

“Fine,” Alex playfully rolled her eyes. “I say…give him space. You’re right, he did just lose his planet and everything he knew. Give him time to find a place here. Give him time to work out who he wants to be on Earth and where he fits in, time to settle. In the mean time, just be there for him. You don’t HAVE to be a mentor to be able to help him. You can be a friend…”

“I don’t want to be just a friend…”

“Wow,” Alex teased. “I got you to go from “I don’t like him that way!” to “I want to climb him like a tree” in ten minutes!"

"I did NOT say that!" Kara flushed and sputtered.

"Still," Alex shrugged. "You admitted you do want to be more than friends. That’s a new record.”

“Shut up,” Kara lightly shoved her, but smiled regardless.

“As I was saying,” Alex shoved Kara in return. “Don’t put so much pressure on yourself to be his mentor, just be there for him, be a friend, let him know he has support from ALL of us too. Give him more of a support system, more people to turn to. We can put in a good word for you, you’ll have like five wing-people…”

“Alex!” This time Kara laughed at the tease.

Alex chuckled as well and reached out to touch Kara’s arm. “Look, scope him out then. Get a feel for it. Make a few comments, try flirting a little, give him a little more casual touches. See how he reacts. And go from there.”

Kara smiled at her sister, taking a deep, calming breath as she felt reassured by her words. It made sense. She could see it now, why she’d been more upset than angry to see Mon-El with Eve, why it had HURT so damn much that it felt like her heart had just dropped to the floor and the warm feeling she always got around him had just chilled her to the bone. 

Before then…she hadn’t really considered him WITH an Earth Woman. He’d asked her to teach him about them, but since that point he’d never brought up women specifically. And…maybe somewhere in her mind she’d just assumed, because SHE couldn’t make it work with Earth Men that Mon-El would be just the same. It hadn’t crossed her mind that he would TRY, just like she had with her various failed attempts at dating. 

She could admit it now, somewhere inside her…a tiny seed was there, one that said Mon-El was hers, had been hers since she was a child, that her crush came first. It was like a childish form of dibs that she had refused to even allow to be expressed. But it didn’t mean the sentiment wasn’t there. And the more she thought about it, the more...uneasy she grew at the situation with Eve. Because it was likely a preview of what was to come. Mon-El had always been handsome and charming and Earth women LOVED that combination. Eve wouldn't be the first woman to want Mon-El's attention, she wouldn't be the last. And that thought made her both angry and scared. Because while she was holding back her feelings, for fear of others feeling upset with her, the longer she did it, the more chance another woman would have to take Mon-El away. And it went far past him being the last remnant of her home, someone she could actually talk to about Krypton (or Daxam) and have him remember it for being there instead of from stories he'd heard like with Clark. It went past not wanting him with someone else. It was a fear that the longer she waited to...make her claim as Alex would say...or try to gauge his reaction to her, the more chance she had of losing her chance. She had had to many of those over the years, she was done letting any more opportunities go by, especially not something as important as this.

She…she liked Mon-El. The crush she’d had on him hadn’t fizzled away as she’d thought it had. It had been too painful to think about him after Krypton’s destruction, after she’d witnessed Daxam’s doom. She’d forced it down with memories of him because it HURT to know he was dead. But now he was back, and it was like all those feelings she’d had as a child had just bubbled up…but much stronger. It was like she looked at him now and saw him with different eyes, and she...she liked what she saw very much. Coupling that with what she remembered of him, what she was learning about him now, what she thought about him and felt for him. It was not like a childish crush anymore, it was...it was an adult crush.

Because she wasn’t a child anymore. She was a woman.

She just…she didn’t know if HE saw that too.

What if he didn’t like her the same way? What if he looked at her and couldn’t help but see the child she’d been? What if he never saw her as the woman she was?

…a small smirk came to her face as she thought about what Alex would say if she brought those concerns up now.

Alex would tell her to make damn sure Mon-El noticed just how much a woman she was now.

She couldn’t stop the light flush from staining her cheeks at the thought of…how exactly she could do that. 

…and if Alex’s confused expression as anything to go by, her sister was about to ask exactly what she was thinking. And as much as she loved her sister…she was NOT about to divulge that train of thought.

“Oh, God!” Kara gasped suddenly, hoping this could derail Alex from asking her. “You came here wanting to talk to me about something and I haven't shut my mouth. I'm sorry. What is it? What's wrong?”

Alex hesitated a moment, seeming actually nervous about what she was going to say, before she took a breath. “I…”

Of course, the second she spoke, a knock sounded on the door.

Kara glanced at Alex a moment till her sister nodded and gestured for the door. She shot Alex a look of apology before squinting and x-ray-visioning the door to see who was on the other side. “What is she doing here?”

“Who?” Alex asked as Kara got up to answer, revealing Lena Luthor on the other side.

“Lena, hi. Come on in.”

“I'm sorry to keep dropping in on you,” Lena apologized as she stepped into the loft. She paused when she spotted Alex, “Hey, I know you. You saved my life.”

“Special Agent Alex Danvers, FBI,” Alex greeted as she reached out to shake Lena’s hand.

“She's my sister.” Kara beamed at Alex proudly, making Alex smile.

“This city's smaller than I thought,” Lena remarked. “Well, actually, maybe you can both help me. You remember, I told you about that stupid fight club last week? Now it's my turn to ask for a favor.”

Kara nodded. “Anything.”

“I need to get in touch with Supergirl.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited for the next few chapters. Kara is going to be setting her plan in motion, making sure Mon-El is very aware she's not a little girl anymore...it just might kill him lol ;-)
> 
> I debated whether to keep in the Eve and Mon-El moment, but I feel like, with how the story was set up, it was needed to really make Kara's jealousy and feelings shoot to the surface. It's been niggling her, the teasing remarks and things, that she may still have that crush on Mon-El and trying to bury it...but she really can't ignore it now when seeing him with someone else in such a situation hurt her that much. 
> 
> I really wanted to explore what might happen also if their feelings were examined and came to a head earlier than in the show too. It'll still take some adjustments for the two of them and there will still be some issues to face, but I feel like being aware of how they feel will be the first step towards being together :-)
> 
> I really loved Alex's moment in the episode with Kara and how she put things in perspective. I feel like she could do that here too, help Kara understand why it hurt, while also using what she's saying to Kara to help her work out her own feelings...before pushing them down the way she told Kara NOT to do :-( But I feel like she sees and notices things about Kara and helps her realize things in a great way. I feel like she would see Kara's feelings for Mon-El and tease her, but when it's really important, she sheds light on it and supports her sister in finding what makes her happy :-)


	12. The Gala

Kara beamed as she picked a handful of little nibbles and snacks from a passing waiter as she patted herself on the back for her skilled diversion with Lena just before. She had spent all day trying to work out a way to have Supergirl and Kara Danvers be at the gala at the same time and, with Winn’s help, she was sure she’d managed to distract Lena. She’d appeared as Kara and when Winn nearly spilled a drink on Lena, she’d hurried off to get a napkin and reappeared as Supergirl, quickly telling Lena she was going to scout the perimeter and took off. Only for Kara to return with the napkin before Lena even noticed.

And now, after having worried so long and rushed to get the distraction in place, she was starving. So much so she didn’t even care that she’d literally stuffed her face full of the tasty food…

Until a very familiar voice spoke behind her, sending shivers down her spine.

“What's your name, beautiful?”

She would recognize Mon-El’s voice anywhere and really, what had she been thinking trying so hard to convince herself she didn’t like him like him? Just hearing his voice put her on a pleasant edge and made her heart race and brought a smile to her face. Because she could hear his voice again. He was there, he was alive, he hadn’t died on Daxam and she was just…so happy about that. 

<...and the fact that he had said that to her put her heart racing even more. He clearly hadn't realized it was her yet, which meant, from across the room (or wherever he'd been standing) he had spotted her and felt drawn enough to her to approach her. That had to mean something, right? He had come to her and called her beautiful, out of every woman in the room, he'd picked HER without even knowing it was her. Which meant...it had to mean she was at least, in some way, his type for him to pick her out of a crowd. She just hoped he wouldn't be against it being her when he found out.

“Oh, Kara!” Mon-El blinked at her, seeming stunned when she turned around.

She was half mortified and half stunned at the same time, which should have been impossible but she was learning that Mon-El had a knack for making her feel different emotions at once. 

Right now, she was mortified because she was standing there with chipmunk cheeks filled with food and that had to look completely unattractive to anyone. And she was stunned because…he was wearing a suit. 

…and she’d completely forgotten to help him get one!

Now her mortification was fading to self-disappointment. She’d done it again! Failing her mentor role, and maybe Alex was right about it. She didn’t have to be solely responsible for him and helping him adapt on Earth, she had a support system more than willing to help him too. And as the Earth saying went, it took a village to raise a child. Not that he was a child, in his suit it was very clear he was FAR from a child. But she still felt terrible that she’d forgotten in her anxiety to try and fool Lena.

She’d explained what a suit constituted on Earth and promised him she’d help him find one to wear for the gala…and then promptly forgot to do it.

But there he was, dressed and ready and looking…dashing. A Dashing Daxamite.

And that was when she noticed something that turned her stun into self-satisfaction. Because he was looking at her. LOOKING at her. Looking at HER. And the way he was doing it was not like someone would look at a child.

She had taken pains picking out her dress, not wanting to be too revealing, but not wanting to be too cutesy either. She wanted to appear mature and alluring and womanly. And with how his gaze had roved over her, she got the feeling she succeeded. She had to fight the smirk on her face…mostly because she couldn’t smirk at all with her cheeks that full.

She hurried to try and swallow all the food.

Meanwhile, Mon-El seemed to snap out of his gaze as he began to tug on the sleeves of his suit. “Is um…is this right? There were a few different suits and I didn’t know if they were meant for different types of parties…”

“Shfnn.”

He blinked at that. “What's wrong with your mouth?”

Kara swallowed forcefully the last bite in her mouth and repeated. “It’s fine. You look fine.”

He looked more than fine but she was going to be cautious, like Alex suggested, gauge his reactions to her. 

“Where's the suit from?”

“Eve gave me her little plastic rectangle to buy things.”

Kara tensed at that, hoping beyond hope it didn’t mean that EVE had been the one to help him get a suit. Just thinking about it…just imaging Mon-El trying on different suits and modeling them for Eve…imagining Eve offering to help fix his tie or change outfits or help get his measurements…

She had to close her eyes and pinch her nose to keep her heatvision from shooting out as an anger filled her at the mere thought. “You used her credit card?!”

“Is that what that rectangle is called?” Mon-El asked, not seeming to hear the irritation in her voice. “I asked Alex how it worked and she told me I shouldn’t use it.”

Kara’s head shot up at that. “ALEX helped you get the suit?”

Mon-El nodded easily. “She said something about DEO reimbursement for undercover operations?” He shrugged not having a clue what that meant but Alex hadn’t had a problem with it.

“Oh thank Rao,” Kara breathed out, feeling her heart start to slow and her anger fade. She needed to buy Alex the biggest tub of her favorite ice cream for this.

And then give her sister as tight a hug as a human could take for looking out for her even when they hadn’t been able to finish their sister-sister conversation before. Alex really was helping her out so much by keeping an extra eye on Mon-El for her.

Mon-El glanced around, amused with her reaction, to observe the humans dancing an odd routine. Though…there were some familiar elements to it. The way they swayed reminded him of the dances on Daxam when the drinks were a little too strong and the chemicals they used got them too light headed to put too much coordination into an actual dance. They were swaying really.

“I miss dancing,” he murmured, taking a sip of his beverage. He didn’t know what it was, but it tasted nice. Lacking in the actual inhebriation department, but still tasty. “I used to dance a lot on Daxam.”

Kara glanced over at him, her mind irrationally flashing to him dancing with a faceless woman…and then wondering if he meant literal dancing or…another kind of dancing. Before the brief flash of jealousy faded into a soft mourning for him and sorrow. 

He used to dance on Daxam, but Daxam wasn’t there and he’d never be able to dance to the songs his people knew or the steps he’d learned. 

She reached out, only half-forcing herself to let go of the food she’d been holding, to take his hand. “We danced on Krypton too.” It was a small comfort, but she really wanted him to know he wasn’t alone, that he could bring things up like that whenever he wanted.

Mon-El looked down at her hand on his and back to her, before smirking. “Well then.” He turned his hand over to take hers more properly, and tugged her to the dance floor.

Kara beamed at that, dropping the rest of her food and rushing to follow him, a gleeful smile on her face. He led her to the edge of the floor before he pulled her to her, spinning her around as he lead her through the mass of humans and into the center, pulling her even closer as they swayed.

“Hey,” he murmured to her when he noticed her trying to keep a space between them. “Don’t worry,” he smiled. “You can’t break my toes.”

Kara tilted her head at that. “You remember that?”

He chuckled lightly. “I remember practically everything you tell me.” He looked down. “You’ve gotten better at this.”

Kara flushed red at the reminder of the last time they’d danced, the first and only time they had.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

_“What’s with the pout?”_

_Kara looked up from where she was sitting on a small bench on the side of a very large room packed full of people. It was the Daxam Palace’s Party Chamber or something like that. It was where a party the King and Queen were throwing was happening and she’d been forced to go with her parents. She had wanted to stay home, not much a fan of parties and having to dress up in the frilly gown her mother had laid out for her. But her parents had insisted, not wanting to leave her on Krypton alone and she’d been forced to come._

_She was NOT having a good time, hence the pout. The adults all ignored her or talked about boring grown up things that no eight year old would want to have to sit through. The music was weird and loud and the dancing looked funny. Her parents were currently speaking with the Queen and she was left to sit there along the wall hoping they would be done soon. It had been a long night and she was cranky and wanted to go home and sleep._

_“I want to go home,” she informed the prince as he plopped down on the bench next to her._

_“Me too,” he whispered conspiritorilly to her._

_She rolled her eyes. “You ARE home.”_

_“Yeah, but not my room,” he shrugged easily. “I’m beat. Are you tired?”_

_“No.”_

_He nearly seemed about to snort at that. “Sure you’re not.”_

_“I am not!” she insisted. “I haven’t DONE anything to be tired yet!”_

_Mon-El gave her an odd glance. “You haven’t danced yet?”_

_She huffed. “I don’t like Daxamite Dances.”_

_“And why not?”_

_“They look weird. They’re confusing.”_

_He nodded slowly. “You don’t know how to dance, do you?” he mused. “Do they even HAVE dancing on Krypton?”_

_“Yes!” she defended. “I know how to dance. I just don’t know Daxam dances.”_

_“Well, we can solve that easy!” he cheered, something in him just aching to see a child so sullen and by their lonesome in the corner. He stood up and extended a hand to her._

_Kara eyed him oddly…he sounded weird. Like too happy and excited, and his nose was red. She could remember her uncle Jor-El mentioning something about drinking and red noses but not exactly what it was supposed to be about. Still he seemed in a really, really good mood and she found herself struggling not to smile. She was just like that, her mother always said, she would smile if anyone smiled t her._

_She took his hand though, curious to what he intended and squealed as she was tugged off the bench and to the edge of the dancing crowding the middle of the room._

_“Here,” Mon-El took her other hand and lightly lifted her up, resting her feet on top of his own. “Just do what I do and you’ll be fine!”_

_Kara looked down at her feet, watching as he began to move his own, hers going with him as he held her hands firmly. She looked up at him to see him smiling down at her, swaying their hands in time with the music while he swayed their entire bodies to it too. There was only one moment she stepped off his feet, when he twirled her in a circle, pulling her back as she giggled at the surprise move, stepping onto her feet himself as they kept dancing._

_There were people watching, she knew, some amused, some seeming…not very happy the prince was dancing with her. But she didn’t care now. It was fun! Daxam Dances were a lot more energetic than Kryptonian ones, they seemed to have a lot more movement and she LOVED moving around!_

_She laughed out a squeal as he lifted her up in a small swing and set her back down, his dancing seeming to get a little more silly and unlike the others, making her giggle even more…until she pouted when the music drew to a stop, actually disappointed when it was over._

_Mon-El squatted down in front of her, tapping the bottom of her chin. “No sad looks,” he smiled at her. “Daxam throws a lot of parties. I’m sure you and your parents will attend another. I’ll save you a dance.”_

_Kara had to smile at that, nodding excitedly at the prospect._

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Kara was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard Winn’s voice at the edge of the crowd. She normally wouldn’t have picked up on it had she not subconsciously noticed he was talking about her.

“If she wasn't into either of us, there's no way she's into this guy, right?”

She almost glanced over when James’s voice joined the conversation. “No, couldn't be.”

She’d expected to feel guilt or some sort of sadness that she’d upset them or hurt them. It surprised her that she didn’t. Well, she did feel bad, but less so than she thought she would. It hurt her more to see they thought so lowly of Mon-El that they felt she couldn’t possibly ever be into him. They didn’t know him. They weren’t her. They had no right to say who she could or would or should like or not. Just because she hadn’t liked them in that way didn’t mean she couldn’t like men different from them. That was sort of the point, when she thought about it. You date and hang around people to find out what you like or don’t and as wonderful of men as Winn and James were, they weren’t right for HER.

Maybe Mon-El wouldn’t be either. Maybe they’d try a relationship one day and learn it wasn’t right for them. But the point was she did like him and she did want to try and, just like Alex had told her (and gotten through to her it seemed), it was her life to find what she wanted and didn’t want from it.

“Hey,” Mon-El’s gentle voice brought her back to the present. “You ok?”

She nodded, smiling softly at him as she bit her lip, deciding to try something. She stepped closer to him, moving her arms up to his neck and draping them over his shoulders, leaving him little option but to slide his hands around her waist.

He seemed surprised at the action, but not adverse to it, so she took it as a win.

“I haven’t been able to dance with anyone like this,” she told him.

“In a long time,” he finished.

But she shook her head. “Ever.”

He frowned at that. “No…”

She nodded. “I was twelve when Krypton was destroyed. We danced, but not like this, and not that young. And then getting to Earth…dancing like this meant…”

“Broken toes,” he realized. “Well,” he squeezed her tighter to him. “Dance as much as you want with me. I’m at your service.”

“Well at least that hasn’t changed,” she teased, recalling how he’d been tasked with babysitting her on Krypton.

He laughed at that, looking at her eyes, momentarily thrown by the fact that he COULD look into her eyes without having to crouch down or squat. It was like every day she did something, some little thing, that reminded him she wasn’t a child anymore. 

Dancing like this? With her in his arms and pressed so close to him? It was easier to separate her from the little girl on Daxam. But then she’d smile or her eye would twinkle, exactly like that little girl, and he’d be thrown back into that feeling and…

They both jumped apart when an explosion went off near the doors, three men with very large, very alien guns striding in.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Mon-El glanced over when he felt Kara sit on the edge of the couch he was lying on early the next morning. He hadn’t had the best time falling asleep after the night they’d had. Men with alien guns, attacking humans, Lena and Winn and Supergirl saving the day. And what had he done? Tried to distract one and gotten a chest full of alien gun blasting him back and winding him so much he’d been useless to help. His suit jacket had been charred in evidence of the alien attack and he knew, having heard Kara warning him so many times not to let humans know he was alien, to take the jacket off and drape it over his arm for the rest of the night so no one would see the smoking remains in the front of it. He had been lucky that, with all the chaos, the humans hadn’t really paid much mind to him after the fact.

Kara had apologized to him when she’d seen him, had asked Winn to take him back to her loft to rest while she finished up with the criminals. There was a lot to the process of apprehending villains, he’d learned. She had to stay behind to help contain them and tie them up, give reports to the police and the DEO, confiscate the weapons and return them to the DEO, and then, of course, feeling bad for nearly destroying half the gala, she’d stayed back to help clean up as well. He honestly hadn’t known when she’d gotten in last night, he must have fallen asleep at some point, but he’d woke early and just laid there, thinking.

“Good morning,” Kara greeted as she smiled down at him.

He glanced at her outfit, complete with her coat on and purse in hand, and down to his pajamas as Kara had called them, really just a white shirt and loose pants. “I’m late for work aren’t I?”

“No,” Kara told him. “You were fired.”

Mon-El shrugged at that. “Yeah, as much fun as interning was, I'm not sure it was my destiny to work at CatCo.”

“Yeah, I'm not so sure either,” she agreed lightly.

Mon-El was silent a moment. “You're not mad at me are you?”

“No. In fact…I think I went about the whole mentor thing the wrong way too.”

“You were great,” he reassured her. “It was me that…”

“No,” Kara cut in lightly. “You said you weren’t interested in reporting, and I still suggested CatCo.”

“Well you were right,” he argued. “The point of interning was to find out what I do like and what I don’t. I MIGHT have liked reporting, but I wouldn’t know if I didn’t try it.”

“And that’s what I should have done. I should have started off with things you already knew YOU were interested in.”

Looking back on it now, she could see there might have been an unconscious ulterior motive to what she’d done and why she’d suggested CatCo. She could admit now that…maybe…she’d wanted to spend more time with him. It was like Alex had brought up, she shouldn’t have chosen to be his mentor if her excuse with James was wanting more time to work out herself. Maybe she’d chosen to be a mentor because it would let her be around him more, get to know him better as an adult. She couldn’t do that if he was interning somewhere else but CatCo with her.

But Alex was also right. She needed to let Mon-El settle and find a place he fit in and a place he wanted to be. Just because he wasn’t picking CatCo didn’t mean he didn’t want to be around her. He was LIVING with her, she would see him all the time.

“You still need to get a job,” she continued. “But it should be something YOU like and want to do. Live to work, don’t work to live as the earthlings say. Whatever you pick, I'll be here to help you, however you need me to. That's what a real mentor does.”

“Thank you, Kara.” 

“And I got you something,” she opened her purse to pull out a small booklet, handing it over to him. “It's a guide to National City. You take the day to read through it, mark up whatever interests you, and when I get back we’ll order take out and I’ll go over it with you. You can show me what you picked and we’ll go from there. Sound good?”

He nodded, already reading through the booklet. “What's a strip club?”

Kara quickly reached out and ripped it from the book. “You know, let's just take that page out.”

Mon-El just smiled at her for the action…when Kara did something that stunned him.

She leaned in quickly, pressing the smallest of kisses to his cheek, before she hurried out of the room.

He had to blink after her as he lifted a hand to his cheek before it fell to his heart which had started to pound in his chest.

What was that about?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aww, sweet Karamel dancing :-) I wanted to add in a little bit of a flashback for Kara here, just thinking about a party and how famous Daxam was for theirs, I couldn't see Kara or her family not having experienced them in the setting of this story's past :-) And look at Kara, starting to "put the moves" on Mon-El ;-)


	13. When Aliens Get Drunk

Kara was relieved, when she finally managed to find time enough to sit down with Mon-El and talk about his plans for living on Earth. She had kept true to her promise and they’d gone over the numerous marks he’d made in the booklet she’d given him, reviewing things. She explained the pages he didn’t know what they were, asked him why he was interested in other pages, to get an idea of what he liked even more, and offered some suggestions for places he seemed to miss. It had really been about finding things that interested him and showing him how they worked on Earth or how they were different than Daxam. She’d done her best to take him to the different places between CatCo and Supergirling, and he was supposed to take the day to work out which places he’d like to start at in terms of looking for a job…

They were supposed to meet at M’gann’s bar as she felt like it would be a better place for him to feel comfortable and more open to talking…she just had forgotten the small added detail of the alcohol.

And she’d also forgotten that Mon-El wasn’t just attractive to humans who didn’t know he was an alien, but also to aliens who knew he was. He’d already gotten quite a few rounds of different drinks and downed them under the explanation that it was the epitome of being rude on Daxam to refuse. Now he was steadily fixated on examining the pretzels in the small bowl before him than listening to her.

“Aldebaran rum,” M’gann cut in as she stepped up with two glasses in hand. “Deadly to humans, but a refreshing cocktail for the two of you.”

Kara frowned at Mon-El, “Did you order this thing?”

Mon-El actually looked confused and had to think about that before turning to M’gann. “Did I order this thing?”

“No,” M’gann chuckled. “It's from Giggles.”

Kara twisted in the bench to look over at the blue skinned alien waving at them from where she was sitting with her friends, turning back to see Mon-El waving at her with a smile.

“Oh, she's blue!” Mon-El cheered.

“This is unbelievable,” Kara grumbled, crossing her arms and frowning at Mon-El as he took a sip of the ale. 

A part of her was jealous, she could admit it, that all these aliens were sending him drinks and plying him with alcohol and so clearly hitting on him from a distance when SHE was right there!? What, did she not give off the “girlfriend” vibe enough for them to back off? Did they think they could just take him from her?

And she had to take a breath and remind herself that she WASN’T his girlfriend and he wasn’t hers to take. Yet. Still, it upset her to see all these women see him sitting there with HER and just assume they weren’t together. And another part of her was concerned for him because clearly this ale, the alien kind, was affecting him the way human drinks couldn’t and he was steadily getting drunk and what would it mean for all the people giving him drinks? Did they think they could just seduce him after? Take advantage of him while he was intoxicated? She would NOT allow that to happen. Not on her watch.

“That's the fourth round of drinks some girl has sent over,” Kara huffed.

Mon-El giggled to himself. “This last one they sent to the TWO of us though,” he pointed out.

Kara’s eyes widened as she turned around to look at Giggles again, the alien sending her a wink before waving coyly. She ducked down into the booth and turned back. She was flattered someone took an interest in her, but not at all sure how to go about explaining she was NOT interested…

Only for her thoughts to be cut off when she saw Mon-El waving back at Giggles. “Hey, hello?” she leaned to the side to block his view, get it back on herself. “Can you stop flirt-drinking for one second?”

“Ok.” Mon-El nodded, appearing to try and be serious but it just ended up looking adorable.

Kara let out a breath, inwardly pleased he was focusing on her again. “Look, we agreed that we’d talk about finding you a job now that you’ve seen some of what National City has to offer. You really DO have to work and…”

“I've found work,” Mon-El interrupted.

“That’s great!” She beamed. “What is it?”

“Various things,” he shrugged. “And odds…odds and ends.”

“Ok, ok, that’s good. That’s set for now. But you still need to let me train you,” she added. “You have all these powers and you're not learning how to control them.”

“I can control things,” he muttered as he lifted a glass to drink the last of his ale.

“It can be dangerous, Mon-El,” she reminded him. “You have to know how to…”

The glass in his hand shattered as he moved to set it down.

Mon-El stared at the broken pieces. “This was not the prime example of that.”

Kara sighed. “Sure.”

“Ok,” Mon-El nodded to himself. “I'll make a trade with you. You drink this drink.” He pointed at the ale she’d been given by M’gann, still untouched on the table. “And I will train with you.”

Kara shook her head at that. “I…I don't think so.”

Mon-El gave her what she was sure was meant to be a challenging look. “You scared?”

She narrowed her eyes at him…but a small voice in the back of her head was telling her this was what his people did. They drank, a lot. Her refusing was not only reminding him she was Kryptonian and reaffirming everything he’d heard about them, but it was denying him a comfort from home. 

Or at least that was what she told herself as she reached for the glass.

It had nothing to do with a small curiosity of her own to see what would happen if she drank it. She’d never been drunk before, she’d never felt drunk or had a hangover and she would be lying if she said she’d never wondered.

And Mon-El was there. J’onn was at the bar. Alex was planning to meet them there. She was safe, none of them would let anything happen to her or let her do anything. 

So she lifted the glass to her lips and downed it in one go.

“Oh, my God,” Mon-El gaped at her and she felt pleased at the stunned look on his face. “That was very quick. How do you feel?”

Kara considered it a moment, a light feeling settling over her the more time went by, the alcohol affecting her like she’d never felt before. “Floaty,” she finally answered, before starting to laugh. “But I'm not floating!”

“No,” Mon-El laughed and smiled and she couldn’t help but smile back because his smile was nice. “You're sitting!”

The two of them started to crack up as Mon-El high-fived her, but Kara moved her hand just slightly to entwine their fingers, letting their hands rest on the bar. And Mon-El didn’t pull away. She was sure she felt him squeeze her hand. So it was good. It was very good. Her hand felt warm and tingly and it was racing up her arm and making her whole body feel warm.

“And!” she cheered, unable to keep from laughing in the middle of it. “You have to train with me now!” before she groaned. “Tomorrow.”

WHY was tomorrow so far away? Why couldn’t they train now? Sure, training after drinking was probably bad. But…but it was more time with Mon-El. And…and if she was training she would be touching him…

Her face flushed at the thought, her body starting to feel a little too warm.

She would have to touch him, he’d have to touch her. Maybe it was fists or getting a restraining hold on each other, but she’d be able to touch him. She’d be able to hold him closer to her…and why was he so far away right now?

He was SOOOOO far away!

Why were tables even invented anyway? They just got in the way. And they were hard. And they were between her and Mon-El and that was bad and not good.

“Anything you say,” Mon-El smiled dopily at her.

She leaned in as far as the table would let her, her gaze trained on his eyes. They were a nice silver color. Like a storm cloud or a shiny metal or grey. Grey was nice. Grey was like mixing black and white and that was Mon-El. He was grey. He wasn’t the terrible Daxamite her people thought he was and he wasn’t the perfect person like Kryptonians saw themselves to be. He was black and white and grey.

…was she grey too?

If Mon-El was grey, she wanted to be grey as well.

Grey was a nice color.

Mon-El’s eyes were grey.

…what color were HER eyes?

Would Mon-El like the color of her eyes? Did he even see her eyes? A lot of humans just saw glasses and stopped there. But…but hadn’t Mon-El said he SAW her? Yes! Yes he did! So he saw her eyes…did he like blue eyes?

He HAD to like blue, right?! Who didn't like blue? And he smiled at Giggles. Giggles was blue. So he liked blue right? He HAD to like blue eyes.

…WERE her eyes blue?!

“Whoa,” she leaned back after a moment. “That hits you fast.”

Mon-El grinned at her. “Want another?”

“Yes, please!” She beamed at him. She liked this feeling, this floaty feeling, it was fun! And if ONE glass made her feel like this…what would another do?!

“I'm going to get us two more drinks!” Mon-El decided and moved to get up.

“No!” Kara pouted, clutching the hand she was still holding tighter, keeping him from moving.

“I gotta get the drinks though.”

“But I don’t want you to go,” she told him, a whine in her voice that she knew, if she were sober, she’d be so embarrassed about.

“I don’t want to go either,” Mon-El admitted. “But M’gann’s talking to J’onn and won’t see us wanting drinks so I gotta get them.’

Kara’s face scrunched as she struggled to find a solution to Mon-El getting them more of the good drinks but not wanting him to leave. “I know!” She wiggled in the booth, struggling to get out of it and stand, swaying a bit from the sudden change in height, but Mon-El stepped forward and wrapped his other arm around her to steady her. “My hero,” she giggled at his action. “I’ll go with you!” she continued.

Mon-El blinked before smiling widely. “You’re so smart.”

“I know!” She tilted her nose up in pride before the two of them staggered over to the bar, leaning on it to order another round.

“Hey,” Kara looked over as a voice called out to see Alex heading for her. 

“Hey!” Kara cheered, twisting to face her, but taking Mon-El’s hand with her, ending up wrapping his entire arm around her at the action.

Alex lifted an eyebrow at that, glancing down at his arm and up to her sister beaming.

“Hey, you look like my sister!” Kara continued, squinting at her.

Alex almost laughed at that. “Are you slurring your words?”

“Am I?” Kara looked at Mon-El for an answer.

He could only shrug. “You sound fine to me.”

Alex scoffed, of course she would sound fine to him, he was slurring worse than she was!

“Cho-co-late,” Kara began to enunciate, testing her words. “Choco-late…”

“Wow,” Alex shook her head. “Kara Danvers drunk. That's…that's a first.”

“Mon-El is taking me to Happy Hour,” Kara told her in a loud whisper, as though sharing a secret.

“I can see that.”

“He’s…he’s like…really good at drinking drinks.”

“Clearly.”

“And he’s a really good walker,” Kara added, leaning back onto Mon-El’s chest, hugging his arm to her as she used him as a rest. “He can walk really good.”

“Alright,” Alex nodded slowly. “Have you seen…” she glanced around and spotted Maggie before pointing back at Kara in warning. “I'm driving you home.”

“Noooo,” Kara whined, turning in Mon-El’s arm to hug his middle now. “No. Not leaving.”

“We still have this round!” Mon-El agreed, holding up the two drinks now that both his arms were free.

Alex sighed, rubbing her head. “JUST those two and then I’m taking you both home.”

Alex’s gaze shot to Kara for a moment when the girl mumbled something into Mon-El’s shirt…which she appeared to be drooling against as she rubbed her face against it. She could have SWORN Kara had said something like “already there.” But she just shook her head, not ready to deal with her drunk sister koalaing Mon-El and headed off to speak to Maggie really quick.

“Whoa,” Mon-El murmured, getting Kara to look up at him. “Where’d she go?!”

Kara frowned and turned around, not seeing Alex standing behind her but now on the other side of the bar. “She stole my superspeed!” Kara gasped.

“Should we get it back?” Mon-El asked her, serious.

Kara squinted, thinking about it, before shaking her head. “Nah. Alex is only borrowing it. And I want drinks.”

Mon-El laughed and started to walk back to the booth, Kara seeming to realize in her drunken haze that he was having difficulty walking with her standing in front of him, and shifted to the side, her arms still wrapped around him, but allowing him to walk more.

Mon-El put the glasses down on the table and moved to sit on his side of the booth…only to let out an oomph when Kara plopped down right on top of his lap, causing his arms to instantly wind around her waist.

“Oops,” Kara giggled, smiling at him with a twinkle in her eyes. “I tripped.”

“Are you ok?” he asked, not even realizing she was lying and crinkling, but mistaking her expression for pain.

“Very, very ok,” she wiggled a little to get more comfortable, turning on his lap more to lay her arms around his neck lightly. “Are you?”

“You’re bigger than you were,” he told her, his mind briefly thinking back to when she’d fallen asleep on his lap as a child, after he’d showed her the library and read her one of Daxam’s less scarring stories. 

“Are you calling me fat?!” she demanded.

“No!” he shook his head frantically. “No. You’re…you’re perfect. The perfect size for me.”

She beamed at that. “You’re the perfect size for me too.” She let her arms pull back so her hands were on his shoulders, running her hands down them and to his arms, back up his chest. “Perfect, perfect size…”

“Kara?” Mon-El frowned at her.

“Hmm?”

“That tickles.”

She giggled at that. “Mon-El’s ticklish!” She seemed happy at that discovery. “Learn something new every day. Learned A LOT today.”

“Did I teach you it?”

“Mhmmm.”

“Does that mean I’m a mentor too?”

“Nope,” she popped the p. “I’M the mentor. YOU are the student. And WE are not done drinking.”

She leaned over, Mon-El not even phased by the change in topic, to take the glasses and hold one out to him to take. 

“Race ya!” Mon-El challenged and started to chug the drink.

“Cheater!” Kara huffed but moved to try and beat him, not even coming close as he’d gotten a head start.

“Daxamite,” Mon-El winked at her.

“Kryptonian!” she pointed at herself.

“Mon-El.”

“Kara.”

They both started to crack up for no reason at all, Kara leaning more on him as the floaty feeling intensified into a tingly feeling. But she had a feeling it wasn’t due to the drink but because she could FEEL Mon-El laughing now. His laughs felt nice. His smile was nice. His lips looked very nice…

She blinked as she realized she was staring at his lips. But it wasn’t her fault! They were nice, nice lips. And they looked soft. And they looked like lips that would kiss really good. And she really wanted to kiss him.

She moved one of her hands from where they’d come to rest on his shoulder up to his cheek.

Mon-El’s laughter died off at the move, the touch on his face feeling so…soft and gentle and warm and welcoming and he liked the tingling it made him feel. He couldn’t help but look into her hazy eyes, they were blue. Really blue. Like…like comet-blue. And they were wide and staring at his face.

…was there something on his face?!

Kara didn’t seem disgusted so he was sure there was nothing in his face. She wouldn’t be leaning in closer if there was.

Oh. 

She was leaning in closer. 

Her eyes were getting bigger and he could feel her breath warm on his lips.

He blinked when she booped her nose with him, resting her forehead against his own.

“You smell nice,” Kara told him.

“You smell nice,” he returned.

Kara beamed at that as though he’d said the sweetest thing. “I like you.”

“I like you too.”

“No,” she huffed, seeming faintly annoyed that he hadn’t seemed to get what she was saying. “I LIKE you like you.”

His face scrunched. “What does that mean?”

“It means I want to kis…”

“Kara!” 

Kara jerked away from Mon-El quickly, startled by Alex’s shout, so much so that she nearly fell off his lap and to the ground had he not caught her…which sent Kara into a round of giggles.

“You’re on the ceiling!” Kara pointed at her sister. “How’d you get up there?”

Alex stared down at her sister who was looking at her upside-down, and shook her head, praying for strength and patience. If she hadn’t gotten the call from the DEO and looked up to see Kara actually SITTING on Mon-El’s LAP and looking WAY too close, she wouldn’t have made it over in time to stop her sister from spilling her feelings to a drunk Mon-El. Which, given what she knew of Daxam and their tolerance for alcohol, he may very well remember in the morning. Kara would NOT appreciate THAT being the way Mon-El was made aware of them.

“Ok, you two, no more drinks, you’re cut off,” she stated.

“But we just got started!” Mon-El pouted as he helped set Kara upright…only for her to overcompensate and fall backwards onto his lap again. Not that he minded. She was warm and soft and she really did smell good. Like, all the time. 

“Too bad,” Alex crossed her arms.

“Oooh…” Kara loud-whispered to Mon-El. “She’s doing the face. The serious face. We’re in BIG trouble now.”

Alex rolled her eyes skyward, asking whatever deities existed that this was her fate, when Kara and Mon-El just started laughing again.

Clearly neither of them were in any condition to go to the DEO. She could NOT bring Supergirl there intoxicated. She was going to have to take them home. She shot J’onn a quick look, knowing the Martian could read it in her face her plan. He gave her a nod, getting up to head to the DEO himself to find out what had happened and why they were being called in.

The traitor. He was leaving HER to deal with two drunk aliens.

“Come on,” she huffed, reaching out to grab Kara’s arms and try to haul the woman up. “Time to go home.”

“Wee!” Kara cheered as she let herself be pulled up, stumbling a little more as the drinks hit her.

Mon-El had just managed to get to his feet…when a weight settled on his front, nearly sending him stumbling back. He looked down to see Kara had thrown her arms around his neck, on her tiptoes to press her face right into the side of his neck as well.

Alex reached out, trying to pry Kara off him. “Kara come on, we’re going. Now!”

“Fine, fine,” Kara muttered…before jumping up and causing Mon-El to wrap his arms around her to catch her as she locked her legs around him, this time nuzzling her face into his neck. “I’m tired.”

Mon-El couldn’t help but smile as he tightened his grip. “I got you, babe.”

Alex lifted another eyebrow at his words before huffing and reaching out to push a stumbling Mon-El on, wondering, not for the first time, if Kara had been some sort of panda or sloth or koala in another life with how she was firmly latched onto Mon-El’s front refusing to let go.

And she would wonder, again not for the first time, how she had managed to get them back to Kara’s loft without further incident. But she’d managed it so she was not about to complain.

“Ok, Kara,” she reached out to try and pull Kara down, the girl going this time.

“Whoa!” Kara gaped around her. “HOW did we get here?!” she looked at Alex suspiciously. “Can you teleport now and didn’t tell me?”

“No,” Alex sighed. “Mon-El carried you here.”

Kara spun around on her heel to thank Mon-El, only to see he’d already fallen onto his back on the couch, his bed, his eyes shut. She pouted and before Alex could blink, Kara was lying right on top of him like a blanket.

“Kara, no.” Alex moved to her side, taking her arm and trying to tug her off the man as much as she knew her human strength wouldn’t allow it. “Come on, you need to get to sleep.”

“Sleep here,” Kara murmured, her face smushed into Mon-El’s chest.

“Not a chance, Kara Danvers. You are going to bed in your bed, not on top of Mon-El.”

“Nooo,” Kara whined some more at Alex’s insistent tugging. “Mine!” she wound her arms around Mon-El’s middle, making it next to impossible for Alex to move her.

“Fine, fine, you know what, you do that,” Alex huffed, just the tiniest bit annoyed (though not so much as to NOT take a picture of her sister like this) at how Kara apparently acted like a clingy child when she was drunk, and stood up. “You lay there on top of Mon-El and when you wake up in the morning, don’t complain to me.”

“Ok!” Kara cheered, a wide smile on her face.

Alex just shook her head and headed for the door, pausing just before stepping out to look back at her sister, watching in mild amusement when Mon-El shifted in his sleep to wind his arms around her.

He said something she didn’t understand, likely something in Daxamite, before he settled…and then Kara returned the sentiment in a language she recognized as Kryptonian.

She had to smile at that, even drunk and sleepy, the two had said good night to each other. They would be alright for now. The DEO needed her and there was nothing more she could do for her sister except feed her the greasiest food she could find for the hangover she’d have tomorrow…and say I told you so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't NOT see Kara's plan getting ahead of her when she was drunk and not as in much control of herself ;-) And I'm very much looking forward to the teasing Alex will no doubt drop on Kara for this entire situation lol :-) I think I died laughing writing this entire chapter :-D
> 
> But now the question of the hour...will they remember what happened? We'll find out soon ;-)


	14. Taking Care

Kara let out a content noise though her nose as she smiled, slowly waking in a comfortable haze. She felt warm and safe and comfortable, more than normal really. Happy Hour with Mon-El must have agreed with her because she’d never felt more content. Everything felt nicer really. Even her bed. It was warm and soft and moving…

…and moving?!

Kara’s eyes snapped open as she looked down, just barely holding in a horrified squeak when she saw she was lying on top of Mon-El!

She jerked away, her flight kicking in and helping her hover over him with her hands pressed to her mouth, her eyes wide, not daring to make a sound for fear of waking him and him seeing her.

He was on her couch, where he’d been sleeping, lying on his back with a small smile on his face, deeply asleep. He had one arm behind his head, acting as more of a pillow, and the other had dropped to dangle off the side of the couch from where it had been…where it had been wrapped around her.

Oh Rao! WHY had she fallen asleep on him? HOW had she done that? WHAT had happened last night?

She blinked, even more horror filling her as she realized…she didn’t know. She strained to think, to remember and…and she knew she’d taken a challenge from him, had downed a glass of something…and then it just got hazy. She had a fading recollection of holding his hand and she swore she could remember Alex’s voice…but other than that she had no idea what she could have done or said or how she could have let herself end up sleeping with Mon-El!

Well, not sleeping with, but sleeping ON.

She shook her head, holding her breath as he shifted in his sleep, only to turn over before she flew to her bedroom, grabbed her phone, and locked herself (as quietly as she could) in her bathroom.

“Alex!” she hissed as quietly as she could into it the second her sister had picked up.

“Let me guess,” Alex sounded FAR too amused. “You realized your pillow was a person?”

“How do you…” Kara began, before stopping herself quickly. Alex had said she would meet them at the bar, it made sense if she had been as drunk as she was thinking she’d been, for Alex to have made sure she got home alright. “How could you let me…”

“Hold on, right there,” Alex cut in. “Do you know how hard it is to move a super-strengthed Kryptonian anywhere when she’s deathgripping something? It’s not easy Kara. I would have needed the Jaws of Life and even then they wouldn’t have held up against you.”

“I was clinging to him?!”

“Like a koala,” Alex agreed, before chuckling. “I think I’m gonna call you that from now…”

“Don’t you dare!” Kara whisper-shouted. “Alex…I don’t…I can’t remember much of last night…”

“I’m not surprised,” Alex mused. “You were pretty smashed. Not many people get that drunk their first time and remember it.”

Kara let out a breath, rubbing her forehead. “What did I do?”

“Besides turn into a koala and refuse to let go of Mon-El till he carried you home?”

Kara let out an embarrassed whine that sounded almost pained.

“Well…let’s see. You wouldn’t let go of his hand or let him leave your side. You also decided his lap was more comfortable than the bench…”

“I didn’t…”

“Oh you did.” Alex really was sounding like she was enjoying this way too much.

“Please tell me that was it?”

Alex hummed. “There was also the part where you told him you liked him and wanted to kiss him.”

Kara gaped at that. “No…no, no, no, I could NOT have done that!”

“You were about to, but I stopped you,” Alex finally took pity on her. “I saw you on his lap and managed to cut in before you could really tell him much of anything.”

“Oh thank Rao,” Kara breathed, at least it wasn’t that bad. She could…she could find some way to spin that if Mon-El remembered, he had had WAY more than she had and even being a Daxamite, he HAD been in an coma for 35 years, that was enough to make anyone dry as the desert and do damage to their tolerance. Right?

“I take it you woke up before him?” Alex asked.

“Yes,” Kara rubbed her forehead. “I woke up on top of him Alex!”

“Well at least you know he won’t move much in his sleep,” she offered. “He won’t punch you accidently.”

“Not helping.”

Alex chuckled. “Kara, you woke up before he could realize what predicament you’d gotten yourself into. Don’t freak out now.”

“Don’t freak out!? What if he remembers what I said!?”

“You won’t know till he wakes up. Take a breath Kara. See how he is once he’s up and go from there. If he does remember…blame the alcohol. If he doesn’t, just let him know you don’t either. It’ll be fine.”

“Easy for you to say,” Kara grumbled before perking up as she heard a change in Mon-El’s heart rate, telling her he was likely about to wake up shortly. “Gotta go.”

“Good luck!” Alex called before Kara ended the call.

She got up and walked to her bathroom door, pushing it open slowly and peeking into the loft area. Mon-El still appeared to be down for the count so she quickly tiptoed to her bed and slid in. If she could make it seem like she’d been there all night, it would put her in a better position. She had only a second of forethought to change her clothing into her pajamas at super-speed before getting in the bed. She closed her eyes and tried to pace her breathing to match that of sleep, waiting to see what Mon-El would do.

She hadn’t even realized she was partly not listening to him, too nervous about what that would be…until she heard the door to her loft close. She blinked a few times before she shot up in bed and frowned at her door. 

“What…” She shook her head, getting out of her bed to walk over to the couch.

Yup. Mon-El had left.

But why?

Had he…had he remembered the night and been so mortified by her behavior (as she was) that he left to avoid her? WAS he avoiding her? Was he embarrassed by her? Or was he upset? Had Alex not told her everything? Had she crossed some sort of line with him and he was angry? Or did he not remember last night and just thought it was a normal day? Was he heading to that job he mentioned? She cursed herself now for not getting more details about it.

She let out a breath and plopped down on the couch, feeling a pit form in her stomach over the whole thing. 

She really, really hoped that it wasn’t something she’d done that made him leave. If it was…

Her head jerked up as she heard something outside her door and nearly flew back into her bed, trying to keep her breathing even. She’d JUST made it before she heard the door open and someone super-speed into her loft. She’d heard the footsteps approaching at too fast a pace and had JUST made it back.

She stilled herself, trying to give the allusion of sleeping when she heard Mon-El slowly approach her bed. It dipped down on the side as Mon-El reached out and gently touched her arm.

“Kara?” he called softly. “Kara? Hey, wake up…”

She put on a fake pout as she blinked her eyes slowly, trying to keep up the act of having been asleep. “Mon-El?”

“Hey.” He smiled down at her. “Sorry to wake you but I know you start at CatCo soon and I thought this would help with your hangover.”

It was only then that Kara realized she was smelling the delicious scent of fast food. She shot up in bed, making grabby hands with a wide grin.

Mon-El laughed and held up the white take out bag he’d gone to get, pulling out the biggest, greasiest burger she had ever seen. 

Kara couldn’t help but let out an appreciative sound as she bit into it. She didn’t have a hangover at all but…it was really sweet that he’d thought to get this for her. He would be the expert after all of what foods would help best with one. She’d shown him how fast food worked during their week exploring National City, and if he’d really gotten a job, then he had his own money.

She slowed her chewing as she watched him pop a fry into his mouth. He’d just gotten a job…and spent some of his hard earned cash on HER.

She looked down at the burger and smiled to herself at that. “Thank you.”

“It was probably my fault,” he told her with a shrug. “I got you to drink so any hangover is on me.”

“Do you want some?” she held out the burger to him. “You…I think you drank more than I did?”

“Honestly?” He let out a small laugh. “That Aldebaran rum was something else. I have no idea.”

“You don’t remember last night?” Kara asked carefully, keeping her voice neutral and neither relieved nor disappointed.

“I remember being warm,” Mon-El said, his face scrunched as he seemed to try and remember. “But alcohol can have that affect.”

Kara nodded slowly. “I remember our deal,” she gave him a pointed look, telling him he wasn’t getting out of it. “But after that?” She shrugged.

Mon-El nodded. “I know, I know, training later today.”

Kara grinned widely. “Oh yes.”

Mon-El got the feeling, from her expression, he was NOT going to like this…

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Mon-El groaned as he fell through a wall in the DEO, landing on his back from how Kara had tackled him through it, unable to really get his breath back as something heavy landed on top of him. He opened his eyes to see Kara hadn’t let up once he’d gone through the wall but had followed through with the initial tackle, landing on him before proceeding to hold his arms down.

“Better!” she cheered, smirking down at him, getting off of him not even a second later.

But Mon-El still failed to draw in enough breath. He wasn’t sure if it was his body or himself that was still in shock from having Kara land on him in such a position. She probably had no idea what thoughts that inspired in him. It was…he knew there was nothing remotely intimate intentioned by Kara in doing what she had. She’d literally tackled him, there was nowhere for her to go but to land on him. But having her that close, on top of him, holding his arms down…he would be lying if he’d said a woman or two on Daxam hadn’t gotten him into the same position with…quite pleasurable outcomes following.

He swallowed hard and pushed himself up, ignoring the two guards eyeing him in concern and empathy. 

“Again!” Kara called, walking backward through the hole in the wall and into the center of the training room.

Mon-El huffed to himself, shaking his head to focus. “Yep, ok…” And forced himself into a run to try and use his momentum to power his punch…

And Kara just side stepped him, pushing him onward till he ran into the back wall.

He was sure he would have stumbled and rolled into the wall had it not before for the force that knocked the wind out of him and, instead, ended up pinning him to the wall. Kara hadn’t just pushed him into the wall, she’d grabbed his arm to use his momentum against him, shoving him into it with his arm wedge behind his back and pinned there by her body, which was pressed tightly against his.

“Less better,” was her breathy voice in his ear.

He had to shake himself mentally to hear the amusement in it and not what he imagined was also some sort of teasing tone. Kara wasn’t teasing him or anything remotely intimate. She was training him. 

“Again,” she shoved off of him and he still rested against the wall a moment, trying to gain his bearings and focus.

He took a deep breath and turned to face her, jumping up and down to motivate himself, his fists up and lunged, trying to punch her, three separate times, but she used her superspeed to dodge every single one. He dove for her as she turned to run, hoping he could grab her and tackle her, but she ran up the wall (of course she could do that) and flipped over him. He twisted mid-move only to stumble backwards into the wall…

Kara supersped towards him, her one hand gripping his shoulder to push him back, her other arm pressed against his throat in a light move. But that was the only light thing about it. 

Mon-El inhaled sharply as he felt a sensastion that was not good, not good at all, stiring in him at the feel of her front pressed so firmly to his front and reacted, shoving her back.

“Better!” Kara laughed, smirking at him.

He shook himself bodily, trying to ignore everything else, trying to will his body to cooperate and ran at her, hoping the fight would take his mind off of wherever his body had gone at the feel of Kara…only for her to side step and send him running into a pillar, bashing his shoulder into it.

He stumbled down to his knees, groaning, but twisting so his back was to her, panting.

“You need a break?” Kara sounded amused.

Good, he nodded to himself. Let her be. Let her think it was all fun and games, let her not notice him. Let her not realize he was panting and NOT because of exertion. He’d gone through more rigorous tests from the DEO and been left with plenty of breath. No, this was NOT the result of fighting her.

“I accept your surrender,” he called over his shoulder.

Kara frowned, seeing him still hunched over, his back to her. “Are you ok?” she started to walk towards him. “Didn’t hit you too hard did I?”

“No!” he said quickly, shuffling to turn, his back to the pillar, his knees up. “Just…ok, I surrender.” 

Kara eyed him oddly, concerned with how he was looking anywhere but at her as he spoke. “We barely started,” she commented. “I just want to make sure you learn how to defend yourself…”

He scoffed. “How often are you planning on attacking me?”

“I'm training you,” Kara corrected. “So that, one day, if you are so inclined, you can make a difference.”

Mon-El was silent a moment, finally looking at her, but with a regret in his eyes. “And what if that's not me?”

Kara actually laughed at that. “Sure it is!”

She seemed about to continue, to explain to him why she was so sure of that, when the door to the room opened and Alex peeked in. “Kara, hey…” she glanced between them before focusing on her sister. “Can I talk to you? Alone?”

Kara looked at Mon-El who waved her off before nodding and stepped out with her sister.

Mon-El let out a relieved breath, his head falling back against the pillar as he looked skyward, silently asking the gods why they would do this to him. He let his head drop back down, staring at a particular spot between his legs, hidden by his bent knees, a particular spot that was MUCH more excited by sparring with Kara than it should have been.

“Seriously?” he asked himself. “She was twelve!”

He groaned, dropping his forehead onto his knees, shaking his head even as a small voice in his head reminded him she was clearly NOT twelve years old any longer. His body had been made very much aware of that through the numerous touches and presses hers had given him through their work out. But even if his body seemed to react to that...his mind was still fixated on that little girl on Daxam. This was wrong. His reaction was wrong. Just because she was an adult now...a very beautiful adult...didn't mean she wasn't still that kind, innocent girl he'd known such a short while ago. 

And so he spent the next few minutes thinking of the ugliest, most foul things he could to try and calm his body down more, so relieved Kara had walked out when she had and hadn’t noticed his...predicament.

But...then again...as mortified as he felt now...he was sure he'd have felt even more so had this happened last night when she sat on his lap...

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Kara groaned as Alex scanned her with one of the DEO’s tech, checking her vitals for any aftereffects of her latest encounter with an alien. This one…this one had left her shaken and weak, literally. They had gone to check on a doctor, being informed of an attack in his lab, and found husks of humans lying there with the doctor admitting he’d killed them before attacking them. She’d tried to stop him, but the second he’d grabbed her it was like he’d drained the lifeforce right out of her. She’d barely had enough strength to leave with Alex even with the woman supporting her most of the way.

“Whatever was under the ice is inside Dr. Jones,” Kara winced, even speaking was giving her a headache. “But it's not killing him. It needs him to feed.”

“And I figured out which alien!” Winn cheered, not seeing Kara wince again at how loud his voice was when he entered the infirmary with J’onn. “Parasitus alienus, if we're going by the Wile E. Coyote classification system.” He laughed at his joke but Alex gave him a pointed, unamused look. “It's an alien parasite, guys. Come on. It's probably from the Angon system. Most likely got stuck here during the ice age.”

“So, it finds a host, feeds whatever energy the host comes into contact with, turning them into those husks we found,” J’onn added.

But Kara shook her head. “It's more than just food. The second he touched me, he got more powerful. The more he absorbs, the more dangerous he is.”

“Kara!” They looked up to see James hurrying into the room. “You alright?”

“I’m fine,” Kara tried to reassure him, standing up from the bed she was sitting on, only two wince and groan, needing to sit back down on it, clutching her side.

Clearly she was not fine at all.

“Agent Schott,” J’onn turned to Winn. “Start looking into the other victims Dr. Jones' might be targeting. Supergirl, go home and rest. You'll need your strength for the next fight.”

“I want to help,” James began.

But Kara shook her head. “James, we got this.”

“I should come with you,” Alex offered, moving to follow Kara as she slowly got up. “Just to make sure you're ok.”

“No, no,” Kara cut in quickly. “I'm ok. Don't worry!” She looked between the two of them, seeing they were not going to believe her and sighed. “Look, I’ve got Mon-El, he can…”

“Mon-El can do what?” Mon-El’s voice rang out as he stepped into the room. 

He’d been coming from his job and wanted to check in with Kara what the next date for their training would be when he saw none of them there. A nice woman, Dana, she’d said, had told him they were in the infirmary. He’d hoped that he wouldn’t find anyone too worse for the wear when he got there, but, of course, it was Kara.

“What happened?” He hurried over to her, lightly touching her to help brace her against him, taking the weight off her body somewhat to ease her clear soreness. “Are you ok?”

“I got into a fight with an alien parasite,” she told him. “Nothing I won’t heal from with a good night’s rest.”

Alex glanced over at James when Kara said that, noting how the man seemed displeased, pursing his lips and crossing his arms. She could understand why he’d feel that way. He had JUST asked Kara if she was ok and Kara had waved it off, but the second Mon-El had asked, she’d told HIM the truth. SHE chalked it up to Kara having the two of them standing right there and ready to tell him the entire truth if she’d lied about it…but she could admit a small part of her felt like Kara would have told Mon-El anyway.

She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. To know her sister would lie to HER even about how she felt, but not to Mon-El. She supposed, and tried to focus on the part that said, it was a good thing that Kara at least would tell Mon-El. As long as SOMEONE knew how Kara was really doing, someone who cared about her, then it was alright. It didn’t HAVE to be her, just SOMEONE.

“Well let’s get you home,” Mon-El said simply.

Alex’s eyebrows shot up in her hairline when Mon-El, before she could even blink, managed to get Kara into his arms, bridal style.

“I CAN walk,” Kara muttered but didn’t make a huff about being carried.

Alex wasn’t sure if it was a sign of just how hurt Kara was feeling or if it might be her lingering feelings for Mon-El and a desire to be in his arms that kept her sister quiet.

“And I can carry you,” Mon-El said easily. “Right now, I think even I could beat you if we trained. So how about you just let me take care of you.” He gave her a pointed look. “It’s not like I don’t already have some experience in that.”

“I scraped my knee ONCE!” she huffed as Mon-El just turned to carry her away.

“And you went on about it for three hours,” he countered. “You made me bandage your entire leg!”

Alex shook her head, not even sure what they were talking about again but assuming it was something to do with her visits to Daxam as a child. She sighed and looked over at James who was just watching them go with an expression she honestly couldn’t place before she narrowed his eyes…

HOW had he known Kara was even injured?

Well, if she couldn’t get to the bottom of Kara’s odd behavior, she certainly could find THIS out…

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

“I really am fine, Mon-El,” Kara insisted as she climbed into her bed, now in her pajamas after a lovely bath Mon-El had drawn for her, the man himself standing at her bed’s edge holding the covers up for her.

“You know you say that a lot…but you hardly ever are.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she frowned as he lowered the covers, moving to sit on the edge of her bed.

“Let’s see…Just after you tell me I have powers on Earth and go on and on about how super you are…”

“I didn’t say I was super,” she protested lightly.

“And how invincible and indestructible you are…you face off with Draaga and get hurt.” He gave her a pointed look. She couldn’t refute that. “Then you face off against basic robbers, and get hurt…”

“They had alien guns!”

“THEN you face off with an alien parasite…and, what happened this time? Oh, that’s right, you got hurt. It sounds like someone lied to me about how invulnerable she actually IS on this planet.”

“I didn’t lie,” she countered. “I just…didn’t take into account that other aliens can hurt me.”

“Seems like something you should have considered when the main reason the DEO calls you in is to face down other aliens,” he remarked, his voice tight.

“Why are you getting all upset about this?” She shook her head. “It’s not like YOU were the one getting beaten to a pulp…”

“And that’s just it!” he shouted, his words shocking her into silence. “YOU were the one getting hurt Kara. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel?”

“How that makes YOU feel?” Kara scoffed at that. “Oh, I’m sorry I wasn’t thinking of your feelings above the safety of the entire Earth…”

“That’s not what I’m saying!” He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, not wanting to yell at her while she was injured. 

“Then what ARE you saying?” She crossed her arms.

“You are all I have, Kara,” he told her quietly. “My planet is gone, my people, my friends and family and everything I have ever known. Except you.”

Kara’s angry expression finally started to fade into a guilty sorrow.

“You keep putting yourself in these situations where you keep getting hurt…”

“It’s my job…”

“And it just reminds me, each time, that I can lose you.” He looked down when he felt Kara touch his hand to hold it. “You said you were indestructible. You kept telling me you’re an adult…but when you get hurt, it’s like all I can see is that little girl with the scraped knee crying because it hurt. And when you go out there and you do these things, acting like you’re indestructible when all I’ve ever seen is that being proven wrong?” he shook his head. “I worry about you Kara. I don’t…I don’t want to lose you too.”

Kara let out a gentle breath at that, shaken by his words, by the knowledge that he was actually worrying about her. She knew he was when she’d fought Draaga, but…now she could understand more of it. He was right, in a way, she hadn’t set the best track record for NOT coming away injured after reassuring him nothing could hurt her. Coupling that with the fact that…she really was the last thing he had of his old life, even if she was a few years displaced and from another planet entirely…she could understand why this entire thing was upsetting him.

It was cruel of her to say the planet was more important than his feelings. She WANTED him to express his feelings! That had been her goal since she’d told him about Daxam’s fate, to get him to open up to her, to talk to her, to go to her when he needed comfort. She wanted him to be able to talk about what bothered him, the loss of his planet, any nightmares he had.

…and what had she done? Let her frustration get in the way and put up yet another roadblock to him being open with her.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured, squeezing his hand. “I’ll try to be more careful.”

She knew she’d have to be more careful. She was starting to get the feeling Mon-El wasn’t talking to her about the things she wanted him to because of things like this. Because, at any moment he was afraid he could lose her like he lost his planet. He needed to know she was there, she was permanent, because there was no point in talking about your problems to someone that was just going to leave you.

She needed to make him see she wasn’t going anywhere, not like that, not for a long time.

…she just had to work out a way to DO it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like when Mon-El makes comments about Kara being overconfident, THIS is what he means. ALL he has experienced when it comes to her is her saying she's indestructible and then GETTING HURT. Up to this point, the ONLY examples he has of her facing down enemies has been with the result of her getting hurt by them. It makes sense to me, after writing this chapter, why his comments are sometimes hard-hitting truths for her to take. She doesn't see herself as that, because she can face off with a human or a fire or bullets and walk away unscathed, but Mon-El is seeing her facing down alien things and he is seeing the not-quite-so-invulnerable side to things :-(
> 
> Kara is going to create quite a few situations that will get to Mon-El, in more ways than one, both positive and negative, and I'm very much looking forward to him working out how he feels about them ;-)
> 
> And, on a lighter note, I hope you enjoyed the Mon-El playing nurse bits :-) I feel like that would stick around, whether Kara's an adult or a child, his need to just make sure she's ok :-)
> 
> I also think Kara's starting to put her plan into action during their training session, what do you think? ;-) ;-)


	15. Spats

Kara had been having a good day. She’d woken up to Mon-El leaving her breakfast he’d gotten from a nearby café with a note that he’d had to go to work and a text from James telling her not to come to CatCo that day on orders from the boss, to rest after her fight with the alien parasite last night. Alex had stopped by though and they’d talked, had a really deep sister-sister talk about how Alex had come out to her and was fond of Maggie Sawyer, a cop friend of hers. She was happy, she and Alex had healed the rift between them, her sister was happier, which made her happier…and then, of course, because they were having a moment, the DEO needed her to see to an alien fight in an alley just outside M’gann’s bar.

She had NOT expected a blue alien to be getting punched by Mon-El of all people. “Mon-El!?”

Mon-El spun around, his hand tightly gripping the shoulder of the blue alien to keep him from running off. “Ah, ok,” Mon-El winced when he saw her and her stunned-yet-steadily-growing-angry expression. “Before you say anything, you should know that this gentleman here…stand up, Brian,” he hefted the man up more.

“Hi, there,” Brian grunted out.

“Brian here has a bad habit of not paying back his debts promptly.”

“I do.”

“And, if his bookie wants to pay me to help him improve his habits, I mean, who am I to say no, right?” He chuckled nervously, seeing Kara did not appear impressed. “I mean, who's the victim here, really?”

Kara’s jaw clenched. “Run along, Brian.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Brian called, yanking his arm from Mon-El and racing away.

Mon-El frowned as he watched the man go before turning that expression on Kara, crossing his arms in confusion as to why she seemed so angry.

“Are you kidding me?!” Kara gaped at him, feeling shock settle on her. He had gone from sweet and caring, playing nurse for her, last night to…to THIS? THIS was his job?! “This is how you're using your powers? As muscle for hire?”

Mon-El shook his head at that, still confused. “It's a living. A temporary living.”

“You're supposed to HELP people!” Kara shouted. 

“I’m helping his bookie…” Mon-El began, but it just seemed to make Kara angrier.

“You cannot use your powers for money!”

“Why? Don't you?”

“Absolutely not!”

Mon-El gave her an odd look at that. “So the DEO has NEVER paid you for the help you give them?”

Kara was just about to snap no, of course not, when her words caught in her throat. Because…they did. Not often, not always, but there WAS something like a stipend she earned here and there, typically a compensation for when she would have to miss a day of normal work at CatCo to help or because she’d been too badly injured. 

And she realized then that using that argument wouldn’t actually help her case…because he could easily bring up J’onn and how he HAD to get paid as the director of the DEO, and how he used his powers to help the DEO and was paid for it.

“That has nothing to do with this,” she said instead. “What you’re doing? It goes against everything we stand for.”

“How?” He scoffed, starting to get irritated. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but theft still works the same on Earth, doesn’t it? If someone takes something that doesn’t belong to them and doesn’t return it, they stole it. If Brian took money from his bookie and didn’t pay it back, then he stole it. I’m helping to get it back. HOW is that different than what you do?”

“It just is!”

“What, because the people YOU stop steal from banks and use guns to do it? Not every act of heroism has to be on a City-Wide scale.”

“THIS is not heroism,” she gestured around at him and the direction Brian had run.

“Fine, fine.” He rolled his eyes at that, not even bothering to remind her that he COULDN’T commit the acts of heroism she seemed to be talking about. Because he wasn’t trained, he hadn’t been there long enough to master his abilities, he couldn’t face the people she did without actually hurting them, so how was he supposed to be a hero now when he’d only JUST started training with her? It was a pointless argument. “So it’s not heroism. But it is legal…”

“You were beating someone up!” She shook her head, that was the very definition of not-legal.

“So was M’gann,” he reminded her, making her take a step back as though he’d slapped her. “And, let me guess, you didn’t chastise her for it, did you? You didn’t go over to her and reprimand her for doing it for money either.”

“That is not the same thing,” Kara defended weakly, but a voice in the back of her mind told her it was exactly the same thing. M’gann HAD been beating people up, money was made from it, and SHE had said nothing about it except to let J’onn know. “SHE is not my responsibility.”

“I understand I’m in your custody, Kara, but I’ve done EVERYTHING the DEO told me to.”

“The DEO told you to stay out of trouble!” Kara reminded him. “To not get involved in illegal activities!”

“So you’re saying that there is no one else on Earth that does what I was doing when people owe money?” he asked skeptically. “That no one does this legally? Because I was watching a TV show about a man who did exactly this and I doubt they’d put it up for authorities to see if it was illegal.”

Kara knew instantly exactly what he was talking about. Bounty hunters. Bail Bonds People. Both of them were legal professions who did exactly what Mon-El was doing, they went after people that owed money to get it back, and sometimes they used force to do it. And it was LEGAL.

“That’s different.”

Mon-El scoffed. “Sure it is. Look, Kara, I get it. You want me to save the world one day, be a hero like you are. But I can’t right now. Right now I need to find ways to survive first and things in this world cost money, and if the only way I can make a few bucks at the moment is using my powers, why shouldn't I?”

Kara just shook her head at him, giving him a look that unsettled him. He almost felt like she was staring at a stranger.

“I never knew you could be just as selfish as…”

“As?” he tensed when she cut herself off. He shook his head, already knowing what she was going to say. “As a Daxamite.”

“I didn’t say that,” she defended weakly.

“Yeah, but you were going to, Kara. Ok, I may have your powers but I…I don't have your innate desire to go leaping into trouble.” 

He hated to say it, but he felt it needed to be said. 

Everything was just too much right now. How could he even begin to worry about other people and all the trouble in the world when he was still just struggling to cope with everything strange and new about this world, which was everything. How could he begin to care about others when he was still trying to recover from losing everything? 

“But that doesn't make me a bad person,” he finished.

Kara shook her head sadly, almost judgmentally, in a way that reminded him FAR too much of her people, in a way he’d never hoped to see from her. “It kind of does.”

Mon-El’s hands clenched into fists as they fell to his sides. “No, it doesn't.”

“If you have the ability to help, you have the responsibility to help.”

“Well then.” He gestured back towards M’gann’s bar. “Be my guest to go inside and tell every single alien in there, all of whom have some sort of yellow-sun given ability, to go out onto the streets and save the humans who persecuted them so much they had to seek refuge in a bar.”

Kara let out a breath at that, stepping back again, almost feeling his words like a physical blow.

“If you’re so set to think I need to help because I’m an alien and I have some powers, go tell THEM to do the same, go tell M’gann.” Mon-El watched her as she didn’t make a move. “Oh, I see, then they’re all bad people now too.”

“That’s not fair…” she tried to argue. 

But he was…he was right. She knew a majority of the aliens in M’gann’s bar had some sort of unique ability brought about by living on Earth, but none of them took it as far as she had in becoming a hero. And she hadn’t harassed any of them to follow her path either.

“You're no saint, Kara Zor-El.”

“Excuse me?” Her head snapped up at his words, her eyes narrowing into slits at the perceived insult.

But Mon-El didn’t look vicious or like he’d intended to hurt her, but more like he was disappointed in her. “You fly around, rescuing people, like you're just pure of heart. But that is crap. Because you love that attention. You love people loving you. You are not selfless.”

“How dare you!?”

“If you really cared about the people as much as you claim you do, you’d be Supergirl all the time. But you aren’t. You work at CatCo, which means you can’t be available every minute of the day to help the people you claim to care so much about. So you really DON’T care about them so much as you care about being their hero and swooping in when things are really bad.”

“That is SO not true!” she nearly shouted at him.

“If you can’t accept when people call you out for your crap, Kara, you’re going to find yourself falling off that pedestal you’ve put yourself on.”

“Oh like you’re one to talk!” she shot back.

“I know who I am. I know how I am. I don’t deny the flaws in myself. And I don’t look for excuses just for being me. That’s something YOU need to learn if you ever want to be taken seriously.”

“Don’t talk to me like I’m a child!” she snapped.

“Then don’t act like one!” he countered before they both fell silent, panting as a result of their shouting. He shook his head as he looked at her sadly. “You once told me I was nice. And I thought…finally, a Kryptonian who doesn’t think she’s better than everyone else, than a Daxamite.” He eyed her. “What happened to that little girl?”

“She grew up,” Kara stated, her voice weak.

“And look what you turned into,” he remarked, feeling like he too was staring at a stranger. Gone was the little girl he’d known and standing in her place was a woman trying to berate him for his choices and make him feel every bit as bad about it as her people would have, maybe even worse than her people would have just because she didn’t agree with them. “I actually thought Earth had been good for you. I think it just made you worse. An alien among humans, a god among men. You need to remember being Kara, not Supergirl.”

“National City needs Supergirl.”

Mon-El gave her a look that broke her heart despite the fierce fight and low blows they’d sent to each other. 

“What if I need Kara?”

Kara opened her mouth to speak, but Mon-El shook his head to silence her turning to walk away, leaving her to stand in the alley alone.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Alex hadn’t even realized she’d been staring at her phone, debating whether to call Maggie for so long until Kara flew back into her loft, looking upset.

“Kara?” She got up and followed Kara to the kitchen where her sister pulled out a large tub of ice cream. Oh boy, this was going to be rough if Kara was already going for that. “What’s wrong?”

“The alien was Mon-El,” Kara explained moving to plop on her couch and shove a spoonful of the treat into her mouth. “HE was beating up another alien. Apparently, that’s his job now, going after people for bookies.”

“He’s a bounty hunter?” Alex shook her head, trying to follow along as she moved to sit beside her sister.

“Don’t call it that!” Kara nearly whined from a mouthful of ice cream. “That means it’s legal!”

“…it IS legal,” Alex pointed out. And it was. Bounty hunting was a legal profession though different states had different regulations about it. 

Kara rubbed her forehead and shoveled another mouthful of ice cream.

“Kara, hey,” Alex reached out to touch her arm. “What happened? From the beginning.”

“Just that,” Kara muttered, shrugging. “I found him using his powers to beat up an alien because he owed money to his bookie. I confronted Mon-El about it and we…we got into a fight.”

Alex nodded slowly. “How much of his powers was he using?”

“What?” Kara looked at her.

“How much force was there behind his punches?” she clarified.

Kara frowned, trying to think. She’d really just seen Mon-El and his fist and an alien and seen red. “Not much…” she muttered. “The alien was fine enough to stand and run away…”

“Then…WAS he even using his powers?” Alex had to ask. It was very important. Using his powers on someone, a human or an alien, to cause harm would be something the DEO would have to handle. But if he was exerting the normal force a human would…that was no different than a real bounty hunter. And even then, even using his powers, if it was in THAT capacity and NOT just to harm an individual…it still wasn’t different than a real bounty hunter.

But she was sensing this was something important for Kara to think about.

“I…I don’t know,” Kara admitted after a moment. “I just saw him…”

“Hitting an alien and freaked,” Alex finished.

“Yeah.”

“And you fought.”

“Yeah.”

“About what?”

Kara let out a long breath. “I got mad at him for using his powers like that. For wanting to be muscle for hire instead of a hero. I went off on him that he should be helping people, not using his powers for money. I…” she cut herself off for a second. “I called him a bad person.”

Alex nodded along with that but was silent, giving Kara time to calm down and eat more ice cream. “What did he say to that?”

“That he was helping the bookie,” she remarked sullenly. “And he brought up that I get paid by the DEO to use my powers, that M’gann used to beat people up and that the other aliens all have powers but don’t want to be heroes either, so I shouldn’t pick on him.”

“All valid points…”

“Alex!” Kara cried, sitting up a little more. “You’re MY sister, you’re supposed to take MY side.”

Alex held up her hands at that. “I’m not taking Mon-El’s side, I’m just saying he does make a point. It sounds like a lot of what you said to him were things you should apply to other aliens, but haven’t. You can’t pick and choose things like that. IF you want to use being an alien as an argument or having powers, you need to apply that to all aliens or those with powers. Otherwise it does look like you’re just picking on him.”

“I was not picking on him!”

Alex gave her a look. “Did you speak to M’gann or the other aliens? Or just Mon-El?”

Kara’s silence was answer enough.

“Kara…” Alex reached out to take the ice cream away from her, setting it on the coffee table. “I think you were picking on him specifically, way more than the others. And I think you know why.”

At Alex’s pointed look, Kara turned her gaze away, down to her hands on her lap.

“I can’t help you if you don’t talk, Kara.”

Kara let out a huff in the way only a little sister could. “I want Mon-El to be a hero.”

“There, was that so hard?” Alex nudged her. “You want him to find his own path, but you’re really hoping that path will lead to being a hero so you keep trying to nudge him in that direction. Now, WHY?”

Kara fiddled with her fingers. “Because I think he could be a great one, it would give him a purpose.”

Alex lifted an eyebrow at that, her look even more pointed. That might be part of a reason, but it wasn’t the main reason, she could just tell. “Kara…”

Kara sighed. “I want him to be a hero because I’m a hero.”

Alex nodded, happy to have gotten that from her. “You want him to be your partner.”

“I’m not sure I want anything to do with him after this.” Alex actually snorted at that, making Kara frown at her. “He was mean to me too!”

“Relationships take effort, Kara,” Alex reminded her. “You’re going to have your fights. You’re going to each say something or do something the other won’t like. The more you get to know each other, the more you’ll find things you can’t stand about each other…”

“Way to make relationships sound appealing.”

“The point is, going through all that will help you realize if it’s WORTH it,” Alex continued. “You’ll find out if you care about someone more than you care about things they did that annoy you. You’ll find out if you love them more than they hurt you or than you’ve hurt them. Just because you had a spat now, doesn’t mean he’s not worth it in the long run.”

Kara looked away, considering that, knowing her sister was likely right. Mon-El had said some things to her that hurt to hear…but the more she thought about it, the more she weighed his words, the more she found that while hard to hear, they weren’t entirely wrong. And she had said some things to him in return that were equally hurtful.

She…she really liked Mon-El, even now she liked him and cared about him more than the negative qualities she’d seen in him. There was more to him than just that and there was more to her than what he’d said. 

And that was the point, she supposed, of what Alex was saying. She had to get to know Mon-El as he was now, as an adult with her also being an adult. She was getting the chance to really KNOW him in a way she hadn’t on Krypton. If she threw it away now, just because he’d done one thing she hadn’t liked? What sort of tone would that set? What would that say about her? That SHE wasn’t willing to make the effort to understand him?

Relationships weren’t one sided. It couldn’t be about Mon-El doing everything he could to please her while being scared one wrong move would have her send him packing. That wasn’t fair and it wasn’t healthy. Relationships were about compromise and working to reach agreements…and she’d just written him off and his reasons for the job he’d picked without really HEARING him about it.

Relationships were like that and she knew she had to decide if she really did want one with him or if she really didn’t want anything to do with him again…

It was silly to ask that, even to herself. 

Mon-El was worth the effort to find out what they could be together. He was worth the effort of getting to know and learning to understand. One argument, one fight, wasn’t worth ending what potential they had.

She just had to be patient and more open-minded and learn how to actually TALK to him and she knew it would be worth it in the end.

Kara let out a groan that had Alex already smiling smugly at the surrender in it. “Why do you have to be SO smart?” she asked her sister.

“I’m the eldest,” Alex remarked playfully. “I just am.”

Kara shook her head but smiled at that, leaning over to hug Alex in thanks for her advice. As soon as Mon-El came back to her loft, they would talk. She would sit him down and hear him out and they would talk.

Because Mon-El was right. 

Right now he didn’t need Supergirl he just needed KARA.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It broke my heart to write this chapter, especially after the near-fluff of the last one :'-( But I feel like both Kara and Mon-El needed that wake up call that they ARE different people now. Kara has grown up, which Mon-El needs to get used to, but equally Kara is actually getting to KNOW Mon-El as a person instead of just the prince she would visit every now and then.
> 
> I think it was also necessary as Mon-El did bring up some hard truths (and things I wished he'd reminded Kara of in the show) for Kara to swallow. I think she needs someone who will call her out on her crap and to make her realize when she's becoming a little too "snobbish Kryptonian" and it's going to take some getting used to to have someone who will actually DO that instead of sugar coat it or try and say it nicely like Alex would. Equally, she will be a person that will be able to change Mon-El by guiding him and supporting him, she can't do that if she judges all his decisions the way she has.


	16. Resolution

Mon-El rubbed his head as he sat in M’gann’s bar, well on his way to getting drunk and it wasn’t helping. Nothing on Earth was helping. He knew exactly what to do on Daxam, what to turn to, when he was feeling like this, but Daxam was gone and alcohol was the only thing he had left to help him. And it wasn’t working.

So he resolved to drink more, drink enough that he couldn’t even remember his own name. 

He just kept replaying the last time he’d spoken to Kara, how harsh he’d been with her, and how much he regretted it now. She was in the DEO, in a coma of sorts, having been drained of essentially her life energy by an alien parasite. She might wake up, but it would be a while. She and J’onn had gone toe to toe with it and it had gotten both of them.

And that was exactly what he was talking about! She KEPT putting herself on the line and she KEPT getting hurt and this time it could have actually killed her. And she kept expecting him to actually AGREE that she was this invincible superhero?

His anger simmered for only a moment before fading as he took another shot.

He’d yelled at her for yelling at him. He’d yelled at her and now she was in a coma and he didn’t know when she’d wake up or if she would. He didn’t know if he’d be able to apologize to her. Everyone else that cared about her was at the DEO, at her side, waiting for her to get better, but he just…he couldn’t.

He wasn’t human, this wasn’t how he coped with things.

He downed another glass of some sort of ale one of M’gann’s bartenders had put in front of him when he heard someone speaking to him from the side.

“Thirsty?”

He nearly groaned when he recognized it as Alex. “Not particularly. I've just found that drinking is the fastest way to get drunk, so…”

Alex, to her credit, was silent for a moment, though she had a deep frown on her face as she stepped over to him, eyeing the numerous glasses in front of him. “This city could really use a hero right about now…”

Mon-El scoffed. “Fighting rampaging creatures isn't on my resume.”

“But beating people up for money is?”

Mon-El gave her a dark look, feeling that anger he’d felt at Kara start to bubble up again. “That’s all I’ve been trained for, you know,” he told her. “I can barely hold my own against KARA, you really think I have any chance in hell against some super powered parasite that took HER out?”

Alex held up her hands at that, surrendering so that he would calm down.

He DID make a good point. Kara had only JUST started to train him in his powers, which were limited to superstrength and superspeed, and if that parasite could take HER out, Mon-El would be a dead man walking if he even tried to stop the parasite. It would be ludicrous of anyone to expect him to suddenly jump up and turn into a superhero right now or even consider facing the parasite.

And…looking at the number of drinks he’d already had, he wasn’t in any state to take out a human let alone something alien.

If she weren’t so concerned about getting M’gann to J’onn as fast as possible, she’d have tried to sit down and talk to him about it. Lord knew she had hare own pitfalls with the drink, she could recognize someone using it to cope. But she didn’t have the time, as much as she wanted to, so she had to focus on helping J’onn and then when Kara woke up and the parasite was stopped, she’d let Kara know and try to help him then.

“I get it,” she agreed softly. “I’m sorry. But I didn’t mean a hero like I was telling you to go face off with the parasite. I just meant…” she tried to find the words. “Be a hero, go help get the people away from him. Give them a chance to get to safety. Not all heroic acts have to be huge ones.”

Mon-El scoffed, hearing an echo of what he’d said to Kara in her words. “Kara would disagree.”

“She wants you to get there, one day,” Alex told him. “Kara does want you to be a hero. Whether or not you want to be one, she at least believes you can, she thinks you have all the potential to be one.”

Mon-El shook his head. “I’m nothing.”

Alex frowned at that, there was something in the way he’d said it, not in a self-loathing or self-depreciating way but…so factual, that it alarmed her. He sounded like he believed it, like…like he’d heard it so often before that it was all he had to think of himself.

“Mon-El…” she shook her head, feeling for him now. He said it so casually, like it didn’t kill him or bother him to actually feel that way.

“Kara deserves better than a coward.”

That last part was mumbled into the glass he’d lifted to his lips, and Mon-El didn’t even appear to have realized it’d slipped out, but Alex caught it. And she felt an odd mix of emotions stir inside her. On one hand, she couldn’t help but feel like his words might mean he felt something for Kara as well if he was concerned about what she deserved. On the other hand, she felt sad for him that he thought of himself as a coward.

He was braver than he gave himself credit for. He was a stranger on Earth, who was actually trying to live there, who wasn’t shying away from the new world. It took incredible bravery to start over, especially when you had nothing to your name. Just because he didn’t want to face the parasite, knowing what it could do and how vastly unprepared he was to do so, it didn’t make him a coward, it made him smart. It meant he wasn’t overestimating his abilities, he wasn’t being cocky or arrogant or any of the things she’d heard Daxamites were.

“People come into their bravery at different times,” Alex said wisely, catching sight of M’gann speaking to a bartender, likely turning over duties. “Kara wasn’t always Supergirl, she didn’t always use her powers to help. But something changed one day, I was in danger, and she gathered up her bravery to save me. She decided to be a hero then, but it took her more than a decade to do it. Maybe you’ll get there, maybe you won’t, but don’t ever let anyone dictate your life or what you should do with it.”

Mon-El looked at her, startled she seemed to be taking his side, or at least not angry with him. “I’m not THAT drunk, right?” he had to ask her. “You actually said all this?”

Alex would have seemed amused if she wasn’t tense of J’onn. “I did.”

Mon-El let out a breath. “Even if I wanted to be a hero, Alex. I don’t know where to start.”

“By standing up,” Alex told him. “That’s usually how it always starts. And when YOU are ready, I think you will.” 

Mon-El frowned in thought as he watched her turn away to lead M’gann away. He looked back at the new drink in his hand and lifted it to his mouth to drink it…before slowly setting it back down, untouched, Alex’s words echoing in his mind.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

When the sounds of screaming and metal crashing reached him, Mon-El was off his seat at the bar and speeding to the source of the noise before he even realized what he’d done.

…he must have been more drunk than he realized.

Because he found himself standing before a large alien that very much fit the description of a parasite in every sense of the word as it was stalking towards a human scrambling on the ground. There were other humans around, screaming and running, in danger…and Alex’s words came back to him.

If he could even just…make sure those people got out safe…it would MEAN something.

He could do that…right?

“Stop!” he shouted at the alien.

Yes, yes he must be VERY drunk.

“I regret this already,” he muttered to himself as the alien turned on him, seeming very angry that he’d let the man he’d been chasing get away.

He quickly grabbed a pole and threw it at the parasite like a javelin…only for it to be knocked to the side. So he went for broke and ran at the creature, hoping he could gain enough momentum to use his strength to at least knock it back…and, of course, it grabbed him by the neck and hauled him up, trying to crush him…

When a glowing red light attached to its chest and exploded, sending him and the parasite flying in opposite directions. He grunted as he landed, looking up to see a man in dark armor striding forward.

“Please tell me you're on our side,” Mon-El panted. “Who are you?”

“Guardian,” the man answered, before he called up a shield as the alien ran at him, sending it flying back into a car.

Mon-El nearly cheered at that until the parasite rose and threw the car at them, overshooting in its strength and sending it flying towards a stunned, little girl. He sped off, grabbing the car before it could hit her, shouting at a woman nearby, “Get her out of here, now!”

He set the car down and turned to see the Guardian engaging with the parasite, clearly well trained and able to hold his own in a way Mon-El never would have been able to with his limited training. Watching the man move, all he could think was that the Guardian would be able to take HIM out, and wasn’t that just telling of how not-superhero-y he was.

Something told him, however, that Guardian was human…he was tiring too quickly, losing strength and his movements slowing at the onslaught he was enduring. And out of nowhere Supergirl shot through, clearly healed and awake and facing the parasite down with two glowing items in her hand, overloading it, feeding it too much power to handle.

He flinched back when the parasite exploded, quite literally, raining dust around him. He straightened when he saw Kara walking towards him, a frown on her face to have had to kill something that was once human. 

“Is he…”

Kara could only nod, but her expression moved into a lighter one when she reached him, smiling at him. “You showed up.”

He cracked a small smile at how proud she sounded of that fact. “No one’s more surprised than me.”

Kara blinked a few times and he realized she had a trace of tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

He shook his head. “No, I’m sorry. I was angry. The things I said…”

“Were true,” Kara cut in gently. “You were right. I am...I AM harder on you than the others and I’m sorry about that. If you want to be a bounty hunter, that’s no business of mine and…”

“I don’t think that career is for me,” he interrupted as well, giving her a small smile. “I’ll…figure out something else to do.”

“Don’t…don’t quit because of how I reacted. It’s your life and you don’t deserve me pushing you to do things just because I want you to…”

“Why do you want me to be a hero so badly?” he asked.

Kara glanced away. “You have a lot of potential and…” Her words cut off when she felt his hand on her cheek, more like her jaw, tilting her head up to look at him.

“You’re crinkling,” he informed her.

She inhaled deeply at that before swallowing, wanting to be…as honest as she could be. Clearly her holding back how she felt and what she thought wasn’t the way to go. And when she thought about it…it was likely a very Daxam thing to be that open about feelings and desires. So she steeled herself and went for it. “I…you’re my friend,” she told him. “You are one of the only ones I have left of home. I don’t want to lose you.”

“…and you think putting me in the line of fire as a hero will keep me safe?” he seemed amused by her answer, but didn’t seem adverse.

“I meant…CatCo didn’t work out. You’re going to get a job somewhere else and we’ll both have jobs and if I’m being a Superhero the other half of the time we’ll…we’ll never…” She took a breath. “We’ll never get to see each other.”

Of all the answers, Mon-El was expecting, that was not the one he ever thought Kara would give. “You just want me all to yourself, don’t you?” he couldn’t help but tease her with a laugh when she began to blush and sputter. “Seems like Supergirl’s got a bit of a selfish streak herself, hmm?”

“Shut up,” she muttered, half-heartedly swatting his hand away.

“You don’t ever have to worry about that, Kara,” he reassured her, smiling at her softly, all their previous anger forgotten. “You are all I have left of my past too. You are…my mentor and my friend. I don’t want to not-spend time with you either.”

“Really?” she asked, a hopeful note in her voice. 

She knew she hadn’t exactly told him her entire reason for wanting him to be a hero, because she wanted him to be her partner, but she’d gotten close enough. She didn’t want to force him to do something he didn’t want to do just because of her, she didn’t want to pressure him. If he wanted to be a hero, they would go from there. But for now, until he was ready to make that call or not, she just wanted to know she’d still have him in her life. 

And if he wanted to spend time with her as “friends” then…maybe there was hope he’d want to spend time with her as “something more” one day.

“Really,” he promised, making an X over his right side where his heart actually was.

Kara laughed and moved to take his hand, pushing it to the other side of his chest. “In case humans are watching,” she said as explanation. “But thank you,” she added. “For that, for this,” she gestured around, “For coming…”

…and then she noticed that there was someone else there, standing before a motorcycle with his arms crossed as though he were judging them.

She could vaguely remember seeing someone in armor fighting the parasite before she got there, seems like the man hadn’t made a quick getaway…which…if she was being honest, sort of seemed just a tiny bit arrogant to her. To have stood there THAT long when she was clearly speaking to someone else (and, yes, ok, probably NOT the best thing to do right after defeating an enemy, but she’d needed to get her apology off her chest), it make her feel like they WANTED acknowledgement of their involvement.

“And thank you too?” she offered, not sure what else she could do, even using her x-ray vision revealed nothing, the suit was made entirely of lead. “Lead?”

The man chuckled, his voice unnaturally deep and slightly computerized. “Couldn’t make it too easy on you.”

She frowned at that, “Who are you?”

“A friend.”

The two of them watched as the man got on his bike and sped off into the night. 

“…does that happen a lot?” Mon-El asked after a moment.

Kara laughed at that, shaking her head. “Not in my book.” She turned to him, smiling. “Come on, let’s head back to the loft. I’m starving.”

His smile grew a little sad. “You go ahead.”

“Why?” she frowned.

“I…I had a lot to drink,” he told her. “I’m not really hungry and…I have a lot I need to think about. What job I should try for next being one of them. I’m just going to walk around for a little. I’ll head back before too long though.”

Kara wanted to offer to walk with him, but she could see something in how he was holding himself, he was being serious. He really did seem to have something he really wanted to think about, alone. And while she didn’t like the idea of him wandering the streets alone…she understood needing to be alone sometimes. “I’ll leave you some food in the microwave,” she offered.

“Thank you,” he breathed, seeming relieved she was allowing him that, before he turned to walk down the street, his hands in his pockets. 

Kara could only watch him go with a sad look in her eyes, his words catching up to her. He’d been drinking. Again. She’d thought the invite to happy hour had just been because of the place they’d met in. But now, hearing him talking about having been drinking just before this?

She needed to talk to Alex about that. Alex had told her where Mon-El was, how he was trying to help keep the parasite busy. Maybe she knew more about it and why he was drinking? She really wanted to talk to him about his habits, but right after she’d berated him was probably not the best time. 

She’d wait till he came home, till he’d eaten, maybe even waited till he’d gotten a good night’s rest, and then she’d talk to him about why he kept drinking so much.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Oddly enough, the thought of where he should get a job was the LAST thing going through Mon-El’s mind.

No, instead it kept circling back to something he’d heard Kara shout at the parasite before she’d had to defeat it. How change is good when you finally become what you were meant to be.

Those words hit him harder than anything and maybe it was the lingering drink in him or the adrenaline from the fight or the relief he felt at Kara forgiving him and them resolving their latest issue. But…they wouldn’t leave him alone. 

He kept thinking about Daxam, about who he’d been. 

And about a little girl who had called him nice.

HAD he been nice? Had he been a nice person? He knew what everyone else thought of him, what they heard of him. He knew how he’d acted and the things he’d let happen. He knew how he thought and things he’d believed. He also knew how his parents acted, how they treated him, how he treated others. 

He didn’t know if he was nice or not. Half of his memories of Daxam were blurred and hazy due to the drinking and the drugs his people thrived on. That was how his planet operated, they would drug themselves so they didn’t feel anything. Which made memories and other things harder to recall.

What could he have possibly done that made a little Kryptonian girl think he was nice?

He honestly didn’t think he’d acted any differently around her than he had normally, maybe censored himself a little more in the swearing department…so WHY had she thought he was nice?

Nice wasn’t something many associated with Daxam, nice wasn’t something he associated with himself either.

And now, with Kara’s words swirling in his head, he kept thinking, wondering really…had Kara seen something in him, even way back then, that made her think he was nice? That he was worth something? Something had to have gotten into her head when she was a child for her to really believe in HIM as much as she did.

What if…what if he WAS nice? What if he was meant to be nice? What if being on Earth, being around Kara, was going to change him into what he was meant to be?

He felt different on Earth, he could admit that. And it wasn’t just that there was a severe lack of drugs or drink available to him. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something about being there felt different…freeing almost. It was like…for once he actually had a chance TO examine himself and learn who he was meant to be. He knew what was expected of him on Daxam, he knew what he had to do and say to escape punishment and derision from his parents. He knew what he’d have to do as king.

But on Earth?

On earth where the only person there that had any expectations of him was the little girl who thought he was nice?

What would that mean for him?

He’ gone to stop the parasite, hadn’t he? He’d risked his life to help protect the people. Badly, but he’d done it. He’d felt so guilty for nearly breaking that one human’s arm in the bar…a not-nice person wouldn’t care, but HE did. He’d apologized to Kara, he’d felt guilty, a not-nice person wouldn’t have done it.

WAS he nice?

And if he was…what did that mean?

Would Kara be happy about that? Would she be...happier with him if he was nice? Would that mean he HAD to be a hero? Could people BE nice without needing to be a hero?

He let out a breath, rubbing his forehead, there were so many questions pushing at his head he wasn’t sure anymore about anything.

He slowed as a sound of coughing and…and crying…reached him. He paused and looked back, seeing a human huddled up under tattered clothing, sitting on a piece of cardboard and shivering. He looked…sad…and like he needed help.

And HE had stopped.

Did nice people stop for things like that?

Did the fact that HE stopped make him nice?

He hesitated only a moment before moving back to the man and crouching down. There was only one way to find out.

“Hey, can I help you?” he asked. “I'm trying to be better, so I'd love to help out.”

He must have still been slightly drunk despite having walked around the city for an hour in thought, because he didn’t even hear the electricity crackling before the homeless man was shoving some sort of rod at his chest, a sizzling sounding as it struck him, sending an agonizing amount of energy into him, causing him to spasm and fall backwards, twitching, with his arms and legs feeling like lead and black spots in his vision.

He felt two people heft him up and drag him towards a van that pulled up, shoving him inside.

The last thing he heard before the black dots spread across his whole vision were the words, “Welcome to CADMUS.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt really bad for Mon-El with how Alex treated him, I mean the guy seemed to have JUST started training with Kara and suddenly everyone just expected him to be a superhero ready to face a parasite? :-/ I felt like she was really harsh and too much on Kara's side. But here, with a new perspective, she was a little more level-headed and willing to talk. I think she's sort of assuming she'll be sister-in-law one day and getting a jump start on being a "big sister" to him too ;-)
> 
> Similarly, I was also a little upset with Alex during the part where she was explaining needing a blood transfusion to M'gann. The part where she was talking about how they weren't on Mars so she really didn't care if M'gann was refusing due to custom/history/her own personal feelings. It just rubbed me the wrong way. I fully get she was concerned about losing J'onn and that M'gann's refusal could very well mean J'onn's death...but to SAY that to someone? To guilt them that way? To tell someone you don't give a crap about their reasons because they aren't doing what you want them to? :'-( I understand there are always things people or doctors won't agree with in the course of trying to save someone's life, but I was just really upset with Alex that she dared to say that to someone who, as far as she knew, had lost everything, that she didn't care about M'gann's customs or her own personal reasons. It was upsetting to me :'-( Especially with how J'onn reacted once he found out about M'gann, like ALEX basically forced that into the open and he put so much blame on M'gann instead of Alex :'-(
> 
> But...next we have CADMUS! :-D


	17. M.I.A.

“Cheers,” Alex held up a beer bottle to Kara as they sat at a table in M’gann’s bar. But Kara was staring intently at her phone with a deep frown on her face. “Kara?”

“What?” Kara looked up. “Oh, right, yeah, cheers.”

Alex blinked at how Kara hadn’t even bothered to lift her bottle in the “cheer” but just focused back on her phone. She took a sip of her bottle slowly, watching her sister typing away. She’d give it one more minute and if Kara didn’t snap out of it then, she’d talk to her.

“You know, for a place that caters to aliens, they have some pretty good chicken wings,” Winn remarked as he sat down with them, James coming around to the other side of the table.

Alex had to smirk at that. “How do you know that's chicken?” She glanced at Kara, expecting her sister to chuckle at that, but she was glued to her phone.

“The latest in a series of armored truck robberies was thwarted last night,” a news report spoke in their moment of silence from the TV behind them. “When National City's newest crime fighter took a stand.”

“Oh yeah, that’s um…” James cleared his throat, seeming to be fighting off a smile. “That Guardian guy.”

“Ok, what’s up?” Alex turned to Kara, reaching out to cover the screen of her phone. 

She and Kara had had an impromptu sister’s night after a rather…humiliating moment with Maggie and Kara had gotten on the topic of the new “hero” in town, and ranted about it. She knew Kara wasn’t a fan of the new guy and for her to NOT say something now? Something was really bothering her.

“What?” Kara repeated. “Nothing.” She pulled her phone back with a little more force than normal, surprising Alex as Kara didn’t seem to realize it.

“Kara,” Alex cut in with a pointed look.

“It’s Mon-El.”

“Oh, yeah, where is he?” Winn looked around for the alien.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” Kara muttered, starting to type on her phone again. She'd texted him a few times on the DEO issued phone he'd been given and taught to use, but no response. She'd invited him to the bar with all of them...but he was no where. She'd been texting him to ask where he was, calling him, but no response. So she'd changed tactics and gotten so lost in thought, waiting for J’onn’s reply to her texts, that she nearly jumped when she heard a new voice speaking. She looked up to see Maggie standing there. “Oh…Maggie, when’d you get here?”

Maggie gave her an odd look and glanced at Alex, already able to tell the girl was distracted.

“Kara,” Alex reached out to put a hand on her arm. “Really, you’re worrying me now. What’s wrong?”

Kara let out a breath, glancing around at them, not wanting to bring it up in front of Winn and James, but she might actually need their help with this. “I think Mon-El might be in trouble.”

James snorted into his drink. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

Kara gave him a frown. “He went for a walk after that parasite alien attacked. He said he was going to come back to the loft after. But I don’t think he did. I went to...hang out...with you Alex, and I completely forgot. And, I didn’t see him the next day. I just thought he was getting a head start on finding a new job…”

“He quit being a bounty hunter?” Alex asked.

Kara nodded. “And with my…jobs,” she offered, not wanting to say anything about being Supergirl in front of Maggie. “I just thought I kept missing him. But then something started to smell in my apartment and…it was the food I’d left for him in the microwave. He hadn’t touched it. I don’t think he’s actually BEEN back to my loft. And now I’m worried something happened.”

Alex nodded, hearing more than what Kara was saying. She was also feeling incredibly guilty that she’d let it go more than a day without realizing. She understood the chaos of the last few days, she hadn’t been lying when she’d told Maggie there was a spike in alien activity that kept her busy. Kara had been pulling double duty at CatCo and as Supergirl and barely been at her loft. It made sense she wouldn’t have noticed right away that he hadn’t been there much. From what she saw, Mon-El slept on the couch but the apartment was warm enough he rarely ever used a blanket to cover himself so there was no way to notice his bed hadn’t been made up or not moved in a long time.

Kara wouldn’t see it like that, she’d be devastated for not noticing sooner. It had only been three days since the parasite attacked, but that was MORE than enough time to really be worried for him.

“Alright,” Alex spoke. “I’ll go see what the DEO can do.”

“Thank you,” Kara breathed, so relieved. She’d been texting J’onn, asking him to activate the tracker in the basic phone the DEO had issued Mon-El but he hadn’t answered her yet…and even if he had, she was afraid that the phone might have been stolen or broken or damaged in whatever might have happened to him.

She just…she really needed to know he was ok.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Mon-El sighed as he sat in the corner of a metal-barred cell. It was pointless to try and escape, he’d already tried it. But the metal was unyielding even to his superstrength. Which meant it was likely some sort of alien metal or something. Either way, he was trapped for the moment. 

And bored.

So, SO bored.

He’d been there for…he didn’t even know how long, but probably at least two days given his body’s natural need to sleep after so many hours. All he’d had for company so far was a single guard that walked around his cell, switched off once with another, and did the same thing. And, of course, the man guarding him was utterly silent.

But that didn’t stop him from trying to talk, to get some sort of information out of them. Or even to be his normal “charming” (or as Kara would call it, annoying) self if just to irritate the man.

“If you could just tell me why I'm here, I promise it would be a good conversation starter,” he called out, but the man was silent as ever. “Ok. I give up. What's your favorite baseball team? That's the one with the hoop and the tall guys bouncing the ball, right?” The man came to a stop in front of his cell, his back to him…

But then he noticed it, a metal band around the man’s left ring finger. 

This was a new guard, and he knew, from some videos that Winn had shown him and some time on the YourTube internet channel, exactly what that meant.

“A courtship ring,” he murmured to himself. 

He felt himself smirk as he saw a way out. Courtship rings on the planet were how humans symbolized latching. This man was taken by another, likely a woman, and if he cared for this woman enough to willingly latch with her…that would be the prime target to take in getting out. Most me, from what he’d seen on Earth, were very protective of their latch-mates and their honor.

“You know, I've just learned that there is a long-standing mating ritual here where if you like it, you should've put a ring on it. Clearly you've been successful in this arena. But, from the looks of you, she can't be that pretty.” He shifted minutely, preparing himself for action even as he laughed at the man, needling him further with more insult. “What do you call ugly women on this planet? Is it cats? No, dogs!”

Just as he hoped, the man spun around, grabbing a weapon from his side to aim it at him through the bars. “Don't think you're so important that I won't shoot you!”

“Well, that would be a relief from staring at your ugly face,” Mon-El quipped…before superspeeding towards the man and grabbing his wrist, turning it to dislodge the gun. His other hand grabbed the man’s clothing and yanked him forwards, bashing his head against the metal to knock him out, grabbing his security pass from his side before he fell.

He quickly pressed it to the scanner on the door and bolted out, racing down a hall till he reached another barred wall. He had JUST pressed the pass to the scanner when he heard a voice behind him.

“Leaving so soon?”

He spun around, ready to attack…when he caught sight of a woman standing there, with J’onn restrained behind her by two men. “ J'onn!”

“Mon-El,” J’onn grunted. “Get out of here!”

The woman smirked. “If you want your friend to live, I suggest you don't listen to him and stand down.”

Mon-El hesitated, looking from her to J’onn even as the man shouted. “Don't listen to her! Run!”

He just…couldn’t do it. Not when J’onn was standing there, injured and beaten. Not when…not when he knew how much the man meant to Kara. He was like a father to her, he couldn’t just abandon the man!

(…and a small voice in the back of his head told him heroes never left people behind.)

He must have hesitated too long because the woman made a gesture and one of the men holding J’onn punched him.

“No!” Mon-El snapped, before throwing his hands up, knowing his surrender would keep him there, knowing his treatment would be worse for having tried to escape…but unable to just let J’onn be hurt because of him. “Ok, ok.”

The woman smirked and gestured to him. The two men dropped J’onn to the ground and strode towards him, grabbing his arms to haul him off. “Now that's a good choice,” the woman remarked, following them.

Mon-El twisted in their grips, knowing he could break out of them…but more so staring at J’onn’s fallen frame over his shoulder, praying to the gods that he was alright. If the man had been seriously hurt because of HIM…he’d never forgive himself…and neither would Kara.

He let out a deep breath, forced to look forward when they rounded a corner back to his cell. Kara would come. He knew it, he was sure of it. The second they realized J’onn was in danger, she’d come for the man and find HIM there as well. He just…he had to bide his time till then. Kara would never allow J’onn to be taken for long, neither would Alex, they would both fight tooth and nail to get him back.

He just had to hope HE could last that long till they came for J’onn.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Kara hesitated as she stood above J’onn as he went through fluid movements in a DEO training room below her. She hated to interrupt, but she thought she ought to let him know Alex was going to be using DEO resources to try and track down Mon-El. He was still recovering from the parasite attack and Alex was handling a lot more tasks for him till he felt back at 100 percent.

“That was really beautiful,” she commented as she joined him.

“I learned it from a Shaolin Monk in the late 1800s. Whenever I'm feeling out of sorts, it brings me back to center.”

Kara nodded. “Are you still feeling sick from the Parasite?”

“I keep seeing my wife and daughters,” he admitted. “K'hym. T'ania. Like they're in the room with me.”

“Maybe this has something to do with M'gann?” Kara suggested and he gave her a confused look. When I got to Earth, I saw my parents everywhere. I was in my room one night, I remember looking up at the stars and feeling so alone. I started to cry. And Eliza came in my room. And I yelled at her to get out.”

J’onn chuckled. “Yelled? It's hard to imagine you as a teenager.”

“Well, I wasn't always this mature. Eliza refused to leave. She said that my parents would want me to be loved, and that nothing would replace them. That they were a part of who I am. It was the first time I ever let her really hug me, and that was the first time I didn't feel alone anymore. Having M'Gann in your life doesn't mean losing your family. It means feeling whole again.”

J’onn nodded at that, glancing at her a moment later. “The same goes for you, you know.”

“What?” she blinked.

He offered her a smile. “Having Mon-El, someone who shared your star, who understands your past and your loss…having him in your life doesn’t mean you’ll be losing us. ANY of us.” His look grew more pointed.

Kara flushed and looked away. “I thought you couldn’t read my mind?”

He chuckled. “I can’t. But I have been around you and Alex enough to know. You have…feelings for Mon-El. I could see it the moment you found him.”

“Really?” Kara winced, nearly sounding like she was whining. “It was THAT obvious?”

“To me,” he agreed. “Wanting to have him in your life, letting him in, won’t minimize the importance everyone else has in your life either. Do not put your feelings aside for the sake of other people’s. Not when it comes to something like this. Winn and James will come to accept it, or they won’t, but that will be no one’s problem to deal with but them.”

Kara let out a breath at that, not having realized just how much she needed to hear him say that. “So…you approve then?”

He smiled at her. “I just want you happy and if you think he can make you happy, I approve.”

Kara stepped forward and hugged him tightly. “Thank you, J’onn.”

“I will, however,” he warned her as he pulled away. “Ask that you inform me when he finally catches up,” he gave her a knowing smirk, as though telling her he knew SHE was pursuing Mon-El and not the other way around. “If you want him to be a hero and work beside you at the DEO, there’s going to be some paperwork to sort through.”

Kara let out a playful groan at the thought of paperwork that had J’onn laughing.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Kara was flying above the streets of National City, lower than she normally would, squinting in concentration as she used her x-ray vision and hearing to try and pick up any signs of Mon-El. Alex had informed her that the DEO had no idea where he could have gone and she was really worrying now. For him to disappear like that? On a world he was unfamiliar with? A sinking feeling in her gut was telling her something had happened to him for him to fall off the face of the earth the way he had.

She needed to find him, and she needed to do it now and…

“NCPD has Guardian pinned down near the wharf,” Alex’s voice came over her comm, nearly making her groan as her search was going to have to be interrupted now. “They just called for backup.”

She sighed, but nodded. “Let's get this guy once and for all.”

She was just about to speed off, when a high pitched whine sounded in her ear, causing her to pause midair and try to cover them. 

“Hello, Kryptonian.”

Kara gasped, hearing a familiar voice in her head, knowing exactly who it was. “CADMUS.”

“Got it in one. And do you know why we call ourselves that? Cadmus was the very first Greek hero.”

She scoffed. “If you think you're a hero, you're crazier than I thought.”

“I'm inviting you over,” the woman continued, not even fazed. “We already have a guest waiting for you. Your Daxamite friend.”

“Mon-El,” Kara breathed, her heart stopping in her chest at the news, her eyes widening in fear.

CADMUS was the worst of the worst…and if they had Mon-El…she could only imagine what they were doing to him. She felt an anger surge through her, if they HURT him…she wouldn’t need Red Kryptonite to unleash her fury on them.

“But if you tell anyone where you're headed, he dies,” the voice continued. “If you refuse to come, he dies. Come to me, Supergirl. But I should warn you. In the myths, Cadmus was really only famous for one thing. He killed monsters.”

Kara’s jaw clenched as she heard the transmission cut off.

She didn’t even have to think about it before she did a 180 and flew in the opposite direction. The NCPD could handle one vigilante…Mon-El needed her help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really excited for when Kara arrives at CADMUS and she and Mon-El are together again :-) 
> 
> I felt like, with the time passing from the last episode to this, how it had to have been at least a couple days for Maggie to have called Alex so much and been aware Alex was avoiding her, that Kara would have had to be really busy and really think she was just missing Mon-El in passing...until something made her realize it, like the food she'd left for him. And the second she knew something was off, she'd be worried and focused on finding him :-)
> 
> But poor Mon-El, he seems to think Kara and the DEO would only come to rescue him because "J'onn's" there :-( I think he feels Kara would come to help him if she knew he was there, but he has doubts about anyone else. And even then, a some-what friend she had as a child vs. the man she saw as a father? I think he'd still assume that she'd be more worried for "J'onn" than him :-( I look forward to the day he realizes she likes him likes him and would have definitely been worried for him in his own right :-)


	18. P.O.W.

Kara gasped as she jolted awake, her body aching, her mind scrambling to make sense of where she was, catching up with her with each passing second. She’d burst through the windows of a building that she’d tracked the source of CADMUS’s signal coming from. She’d seen a man that looked like J’onn…but certainly wasn’t. It was Hank Henshaw who had somehow survived and been upgraded by CADMUS into a cyborg. He’d given her quite a beating, actually succeeding in knocking her unconscious which explained how she’d woken up in a barred cell.

But then she saw a cell beside hers and let out a relieved breath at who she saw there. “Mon-El!”

“Are you ok?” were the first words out of his mouth as he looked at her with concern.

She let out a small groan. “Now I know how the bad guys feel when I pummel them,” she remarked.

“Yeah, not helping me think you’re actually invulnerable,” he muttered, remembering the small fight they’d nearly had after the parasite attacked her.

“I'm ok,” she finally said.

“They captured J'onn, too.”

Kara gave him an odd look as to why he sounded so…confused by that. It almost sounded like he’d expected J’onn to be there with her or that he wasn’t sure why SHE was there alone. “That wasn't J'onn,” she informed him, moving to sit on the ground corner of the cell beside his. “Remember I once told you J'onn assumed the identity of a human? That's the human, Hank Henshaw. Only they enhanced him somehow.”

Mon-El let out a disbelieving scoff at that. “They tricked me.”

“What do you mean?” She looked at him.

“I almost escaped,” he replied. “By myself. Made it right to the exit, but they dragged him in and I thought it was J’onn. They threatened to kill him if I tried to fight them.”

“So you gave yourself up,” Kara realized. “For J’onn.”

“For fake-J’onn,” he corrected.

“Hey,” Kara called, reaching through the bar to touch his arm. She tried to offer him a smile. “For all your talk about not being selfless enough or wanting to leap into danger, your actions speak louder.”

“I wasn’t…that wasn’t…” He shook his head. “It was J’onn, or who I thought was J’onn. It’s not like I’d do that for anyone.”

Kara’s smile remained on her face at that, doubting his words. “How did CADMUS even get you?”

“CADMUS?” He frowned.

Her eyes narrowed at how he was focusing on that instead of answering her question. “It’s an organization of scientists who want to wipe aliens off the face of the planet.”

“Well I feel better,” Mon-El remarked dryly.

“And how did they get you again?” Kara pushed more.

He let out a breath, sensing she wasn’t going to let this go. “I was walking around and saw a homeless man. He was coughing and crying, sounded sick. And I…I stopped.”

“You wanted to help him?” Kara’s smile was back.

“Don’t give me that look,” Mon-El nearly whined, just KNOWING she was going to get back on her “you can be a hero” tangent. “I did ONE nice thing, I was probably still pretty drunk, and THIS is what happened.” He gestured around.

Kara’s small smile fell slightly at that. It…wasn’t the best example of what came from good deeds, she could admit that. And if she was trying to show him he had the potential to be a hero, that she believed he was a good person at heart…having him actually TRY to do something nice and have it blow up THIS extremely was not going to help.

“Well, good thing I’m here,” she remarked, turning on her knees to try and pry the mental apart and get them out.

“Tried that. The bars are made from Nth metal from Thanagar. They're unbreakable. They really want to keep us in here don’t they? Yay me being the lucky first contestant.”

“No,” Kara huffed as she sank back down, frustrated with her strength. “No, they kidnapped you to get to me.”

Mon-El frowned at that. “Why would they think that?”

“What?” Kara looked at him sharply for his words.

“I mean…Alex or J’onn, yeah, I can see that.” He shrugged far too easily at that comment. “But ME? Why would they ever pick me as a way to get to you.”

“Clearly it worked,” Kara pointed out to him, reached through the bars again to grip his hand. “You’re important to me Mon-El. Of course I would come for you if you’re in danger.”

Mon-El smiled at her for that though he still seemed concerned. “How would they know though?” he asked her.

“Know what?”

“That I was important enough for you to come. They know I’m Daxamite. I told them our planets were basically sworn enemies. They had no reason to think you’d come to save me.”

“They knew I’d never leave any alien in their clutches, not even my worst enemy.”

Mon-El tilted his head at that, seeing how she looked away from him when she spoke…and noted an odd tone in her voice. There was something she wasn’t saying about all of this.

Kara, though, was fighting to keep herself calm at the point he brought up. She knew he didn’t mean “important” to her in any other way but being some sort of friends. But…a part of her was freaking out now that CADMUS might somehow KNOW how she felt about Mon-El, about the crush she had on him, about the way she would like to attempt a relationship with him. She was trying to remind herself there was next to NO way for them to know THAT much about her and her feelings, that her affection for Mon-El was NOT the reason he’d been taken as the prime target…but she would be lying if she said she wasn’t worried they somehow HAD figured it out. She wouldn’t put it past CADMUS to know something they shouldn’t.

Mon-El opened his mouth to ask her something, when the sound of heels clicking drew their attention and a woman in a dark coat approached her cell.

“Supergirl,” the woman smirked and Kara’s eyes widened as she recognized her, “I don't believe we've been introduced.”

“I've seen you before,” Kara realized, moving to her feet quickly, Mon-El following her up. “In Lena Luthor's office. What were you doing there?”

“I might ask you the same. I don't like the idea of you around my daughter.”

Kara breathed out sharply at that. “You're Lillian Luthor. Lex and Lena's mother.”

“I'm a lot of things. A doctor, a patriot, a mother…”

“A liar, a kidnapper, a killer,” Kara cut in, her voice shaking in anger. “Does Lena know about Cadmus? Does she know who her mother really is?”

“And what are you to my daughter?”

“I'm a friend.”

“I've heard that before,” Lillian scoffed. “Years ago, Superman came to my son, Lex, and promised him the world. A new dawn for mankind. Lex believed him, poor thing. And then he watched as your kinsman infected this country with his propaganda, as his power became unchecked. And when Lex tried to take that power back, Superman convinced the world Lex was evil. My darling boy. My genius son. An actual Superman, behind bars for life. Because you and your kind will stop at nothing to poison the Earth.”

Kara shook her head at the insanity behind the woman’s words. “You're out of your mind.”

Lillian sighed, waving it off. “We'll agree to disagree.”

“So, what am I doing here?” Kara demanded.

“I need something from you. I need you to be human for a little while. I know from your fight with Red Tornado when you expel enough of your heat vision, you deplete the solar radiation in your cells, leaving you as helpless as any mere mortal. I've designed this helmet to absorb the radiation.” She gestured to a dark helmet a guard brought over to her.

Kara scoffed at that. “You want me to solar flare? That's never gonna happen.”

Lillian hummed, considering her words. “I can't hurt you,” she agreed easily, moving back, around the guard and grabbing a gun off him. “But I can hurt him!”

Before Kara could even blink, Lillian shot Mon-El right in the leg, making him scream and jerk back in agony, falling to the ground and clutching at the wound.

“No!” Kara cried, lunging at the bars, her heart slamming in her chest in fear and horror and…and shock. “Mon-El!”

He was supposed to be invulnerable, like she was. He had superstrength, superspeed, the yellow sun affected him, he was as steel-like as she was in a fight…she had never expected him to have an actual weakness to something, especially not something like this. Bulletproof, that was what she and Clark were. She’d just…assumed Mon-El would be the same. And now she was realizing how horrible a mistake that was to make. He was on the ground, writhing in pain, seeming as stunned as she was that he’d actually been injured.

Kara dropped to her knees, reaching through the bars for him. “Mon-El!” she cried, managing to grip his hand in hers as he squeezed it, pained and struggling to deal with it.

Lillian didn’t sound at all affected as she continued to speak nonchalantly. “Now we've been studying your friend. He's powerful, but has a very bad lead allergy. Say you'll do it and I'll let him live.”

Kara glared at her, seeming ready to attack her had it not been for the bars separating them. Her grip on Mon-El’s hand tightened till her knuckles were white.

Lillian sighed. “Or I could just put one in his heart right now.”

“NO!” Kara gasped as Lillian lifted the gun to do just that. “Ok! Ok, I'll do it. Just…just stop!”

“Please…” Mon-El begged quietly beside her, shaking even as he gripped her hand back. “Don’t.”

Kara looked at him, trying to smile reassuringly. “I'm not gonna let you die,” she whispered to him, tears in her eyes.

Guilt was clawing at her. He was in this mess because of her, because CADMUS was HER enemy, because they wanted something from her. He’d been taken to get to her, he’d been shot to make her comply. She knew Lillian had shot him just because it was incentive, because she knew Supergirl could never standby and let her actually kill another alien. But her heart seized in her chest like a vice was gripping it as tightly as Mon-El was her hand. Because regardless of what Lillian knew of her or Mon-El or how she felt about him, her actions had hurt someone she cared for. It was putting twice as much fear and pain into her being to see him injured because of that. And if Lillian hurt him more? She didn’t think she could handle that.

“Give me the helmet.”

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Mon-El felt powerless as he shook on the floor of his cell, watching as Kara stood before Lillian who fixed the helmet on her head. He was sweating, already feeling an even more agonizing burn starting in his leg, worse than the bullet had been. He assumed that was the lead starting to affect him. But he pushed himself to ignore it, focusing entirely on Kara as she expelled her heatvision at the helmet, screaming after a moment at how painful it was.

He crawled his way to the edge of the bars when he saw her swaying, weakened, feeling a desperate need to be out there and catch her as she fell.

But he couldn’t. And Lillian merely pulled the helmet off and let Kara fall to the ground. She crouched before the super, pulling her head back by the hair to smirk at her. “Thank you.” Before she backhanded Kara to the ground again. 

He glared daggers at the woman, laughing as she yanked Kara’s hair back once more to dab at her lip where a small trickle of blood had gathered. “Well. It worked. Take her.”

“No!” he cried, struggling against the bars, gripping them as tightly as his shaking hands could manage. “Supergirl!” he called as he was lead away between two men, dragged off. “Supergirl!”

He beat his fist against the metal, not caring how badly it hurt, his gaze trained on Kara till she disappeared around a corner.

“No,” he breathed out, panting from his fear and pain. 

He never regretted his lack of dedication to her training him in his abilities as he did now. If he’d paid attention, if he’d just…tried more…maybe he could do something now to save her. Maybe he never would have gotten caught in the first place.

He closed his eyes tightly, grunting in pain when an image of the little girl from Krypton flashed in front of his eyes, crying because she’d scrapped her knee. He opened his eyes and looked in the direction Kara had been dragged, knowing the pain the not-little girl had felt was far, far worse.

And it was all his fault.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Kara gasped and struggled weakly in the hold of the two men dragging her down a darkened hall. “What are you going to do with me?” she barely managed to not-mumble. “What are you doing?”

She struggled far more when she saw a bed before her, an examination table with straps on it, but she was too weak to fight as they pushed her down and tied her to it. 

“No!” she cried. “She was supposed to save Mon-El!” 

That had been her entire reason for doing this, to save him, to get the lead out of him…she realized belatedly that Lillian could have been lying about the lead being poisonous to him, it could just be a weakness as in it could pierce his skin but not otherwise harm him. She wasn’t willing to take that chance.

“That was our deal!” Kara continued to struggle. “Where is she!?”

“I suggest you relax,” Lillian’s voice echoed through the room but Kara couldn’t see her, her head strapped to the side by a bond across her forehead. “It will all be over soon.”

Kara gasped when she caught sight of the woman in her periphery, moving closer with a needle in her hand. She flinched when the needle stabbed into her arm. “Why do you need my blood?”

Lillian didn’t answer, but she didn’t expect one anyway. The less Lillian told her, the less she’d have to go on in terms of stopping her.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

“Kara!” Mon-El gasped as Kara was roughly deposited back into the cell next to his, pushed in till she hit the bars and fell to the ground that is. “What did they do to you?”

Kara panted as she pushed herself up to sit in the corner beside him. “They took my blood,” she answered quickly, looking at him intently, feeling her fear rise up more for him than what Lillian could be up to. He was pale and shaking, sweat on his brow and his jaw was clenched in a way that radiated pain. “Mon-El…”

He gave her a weak smile as though sensing her concern. “I’m fine. Are you ok?”

Kara nearly let out a watery laugh at that, there he went again trying to deflect her questions. “I'm scared,” she admitted. 

Mon-El struggled to lift his arm, it was shaking so badly, to reach through the bars and take her hand.

Kara squeezed his hand back. “If something happens, if…if I don't get out of here, I need you to tell Alex something for me. I need you to tell her to just keep living her life on her own terms. Tell her I wasn't scared, ok?”

“Hey,” he shook his head at her. “I’m not going to tell her anything, because you are going to make it out of here. Ok?” He squeezed her hand tighter, taking in a deep, quick breath. “If anything, I’ll be the one that doesn’t make it out.”

“Mon-El, no…” She frowned at him.

He laughed weakly and gave her another small smile. “You're welcome to tell everyone I was scared out of my mind.”

Kara laughed slightly at that…feeling…oddly better. Not by much but just…seeing him calm, seeing him able to smile and laugh and joke despite his pain, it gave her hope. It made her feel like…they’d make it out of there, the two of them. She was NOT going to leave without him, and…she realized he was right. She was in a far better state to make it out than he was. But she refused to consider that. They would both make it out or not at all.

“I have to think,” Mon-El murmured after a moment. “Why me? Why am I the only one who survived Daxam? If I die in this cell, maybe I deserve to.”

Kara shook her head, squeezing his hand tightly. “You don't deserve to die. You deserve to survive.”

“Why?” he asked in a scoffing tone. “Kara…nothing I’ve ever done would have made me deserving to survive Daxam’s destruction.”

Kara looked at him sadly for that, sensing how he really and truly believed that. He really thought so little of himself that he didn’t deserve to live? It broke her heart to hear. Because, he’d been right, when he’d said she had called him “nice” so long ago. That had been her first impression of him, that despite what she heard about Daxamites…he had been nice to her. For that reason, at the very least, he deserved to live. She had seen something in him, even that long ago, that told her he was a good person deep down, he just…needed someone to believe in him. 

“Maybe it’s not what you’ve done,” Kara reasoned quietly. “But something you’re going to do.”

Mon-El looked at her intently for that comment, letting out a small breath at it. He’d never thought of it like that before. He’d never even considered it, that it wasn’t some past action but a future potential, something he hadn’t done YET.

He opened his mouth…to thank her or argue that or just make a joke, he wasn’t sure, because the second he began to speak, the door to Kara’s cell creaked open. She was on her feet in an instant.

“Come with me,” a figure in the shadows called.

“Who are you?” Kara stepped back, her hands clenched in fists, ready to fight if she had to. She may not have her strength right now, but she still knew how to fight.

“Kara,” the person breathed, pulling the hood of their black sweatshirt down to reveal a familiar face. “It’s me.”

Kara nearly stumbled back in shock as she saw her adoptive father standing before her. “Jeremiah?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something I noticed in this episode. Kara hesitated to agree to Lillian's helmet, even after Mon-El was shot, even after he was in pain and being threatened by Lillian and she was informed he had a severe/fatal allergy to the lead bullet, she still hesitated to agree. It wasn't till Lillian threatened to and moved to shoot him right in the heart that Kara gave in. And I fully understand that what Lillian wanted was something dangerous to Kara, to make her vulnerable and powerless to help anyone, but for all Kara's talk about putting other people first and protecting them and not being selfish...she still hesitated to do something even when Mon-El was in danger from her refusal till the very last second :-(
> 
> But yay, Kara found Mon-El here! And they're on the verge of being freed! I'm quite excited for the next chapter, Mon-El might have a conversation that puts something in perspective for him and his feelings for Kara ;-)


	19. KBO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To keep with the whole acronym theme for the chapter titles: KBO "Keep Buggering On" ;-)

Mon-El honestly wasn’t sure what to think of anything when he finally HAD time to think, sitting on Kara’s couch in her loft, with Alex and Winn and James hanging around, a beer in his hand, his leg propped up on the small coffee table with an intense and high tech bag of ice resting on his thigh over his wound. It was…a mess. All of it, and half his memories of their daring escape from CADMUS were a blur brought on by the agonizing pain the bullet (and its removal) caused in his leg.

He remembered a man that Kara was very happy to see, Jeremiah if he remembered correctly, whom he’d learned as Kara and Alex’s father. He remembered falling over and Kara holding his hand tightly while the man dug into his leg and tore the bullet out of him. He remembered Kara wanting to get the man out as well, but ultimately choosing to save HIM when Jeremiah insisted she go, that he’d hold off the guards coming for them. And he remembered Kara getting him to the DEO, not quite able to fly just yet but able to jump and sort of coast till they got there. And he remembered being in the infirmary when Alex rushed in and was told about Jeremiah…before he promptly passed out, the weakness brought on by the bullet finally getting to him.

He’d woken up the next day to the sight of Kara sleeping on a chair at his bedside, her head resting on the edge of the bed, her hand still gripping his as tightly as it had in CADMUS.

It was in that quiet moment where he’d had a time to actually process everything that had happened that his emotions just became even more erratic and still were even now. 

Kara had solar flared for him. A part of him knew that she would have done it for anyone in danger, anyone that CADMUS held hostage, but another part of him felt…humbled. And touched and angry and overwhelmed that she was so ready to do it to save HIM. He felt like he just kept disappointing her, on Earth, which wasn’t something he was used to. 

He was so used to being the Prince, being someone Kara seemed just slightly amazed by, someone Kara thought was a good person, and someone he could use his (limited) authority to make her trips to Daxam interesting. Now? Now he was an alien on a strange planet that she’d already adapted to, failing at office jobs and being a bounty hunter and failed to just do anything right, as far as it seemed to him. And Kara was always, or mostly always, so understanding…after her initial irritation passed. He just wanted to catch up to Earth customs as quickly as he could so she wouldn’t have to keep watching out for him and pointing things out like he was a child and…

Was it karma? That was a thing on Earth, he’d learned, where they believed what you did comes back around to you in the end or something like that. Looking at their situation now…it was basically everything he’d done for her on Daxam when she’d been a child. He felt all of that now with Kara. He knew Kara was an amazing person, someone who was doing all she could to make his integration to Earth easy and fun, someone who he relied on to show him around and keep him safe and…he was more than slightly amazed by her.

Seeing her solar flare, for him, it was like he was both seeing just how powerful she was, how strong, but also it kept reminding him about how vulnerable she really was. For all her talk about handling things fine and beating her enemies, he really just KEPT seeing her being harmed and injured and made vulnerable and…something twisted painfully in his gut when she’d solar flared for him.

He wanted to protect her. And it went far deeper than just a sense of obligation brought about by her being a little Kryptonian girl on a planet of hedonists. It was like a deeper ache, to see her safe and sound, to be ABLE to protect her. And with that…with that came this desire to just be around her. Even when he’d been in that cell, been scared out of his mind, a peace had settled over him with her there, that she was there and they were together and it felt nice. It was reassuring in a way that didn’t fit the situation that they were BOTH in danger of. 

He liked spending time with her, more than on Daxam. He liked getting to actually KNOW her and seeing her smile and hearing her laugh. He understood her concerns now that she was afraid their time together would be limited if he wasn’t a superhero too. And he could feel that creeping up on him as well. Those few days in that cell without even being able to talk to Kara had put him in such a desolate mood it startled him to think back on it. He liked being around her, he wanted to spend more time with her, even if that time was training with her.

Gods, and that was another thought that had him shifting on the couch, trying to push it away but it wouldn’t leave. Training with her had just about killed him. Feeling her touching him constantly, having her teasing him, having her holding him so close her body was pressed to his? Even in the context of training, when he knew he should be focused and serious, his body had had other responses. He’d gotten a little too excited at the feel of her body against his…and he didn’t know what to think about it. Clearly his body found her attractive and reacted to her nearness, but his mind kept telling him he shouldn’t, because she was that little girl from Krypton, but then his body would remind him she was NOT a little girl any longer.

And that thought really scared him. 

She had done so much, without realizing it, to remind him she was no longer a child. She had a job, she had a home of her own, she had responsibilities, she could drink now, she went out and fought villains for a living! She was taller and her voice was just a little deeper, more mature than the squeak of her childhood. She wore clothing that reflected exactly what her body looked like, and that skirt of her suit? He was thankful her boots were so high and her skirt just long enough to only give him a tease of her legs…but when she wore dresses? And he could see how her legs went on for miles? He had to force himself to look into her eyes and not stare at her body. 

It actually scared him how he felt about her, how he was growing to feel about her. He wanted to be around her so badly, he wanted to…to touch her, hold her hand, touch her face, maybe even touch her lips with his. He wanted to hold her when she was sad, be there to hold her hand when she needed support. He wanted to make her laugh and smile and wipe her tears away when she cried. He wanted to just be around her…and he’d never felt something like that before. His body might react to her, but he…he WANTED to hold back. He didn’t want to just “court” her like he would have on Daxam, where the farthest sense of the word meant lure someone into your bed for the night. He wanted something more with her, something more meaningful…

Was that normal?

Was that something they did on Earth? Because the movies and shows he’d been watching to try and help were conflicting on that topic.

It wasn’t normal for him, he knew. He’d never, ever felt this way about someone before, never on Daxam that was for sure. He didn’t know what he was feeling or what it meant or if it was normal but…a part of him wanted to find out. And another part of him was afraid to do it. Kara was important to him, and he’d known her when she was a child, he still felt that sort of protectiveness over her, still had those memories and he just…he didn’t know how to push past them. 

He didn’t even realize he’d tuned out everyone else’s conversations till Kara plopped down on the couch beside him, with a plate of potstickers in her hand, offering him one.

“Oh, yes,” he murmured as he shook his head from his thoughts to take one. “Thank you.”

“It's good to be home,” Kara spoke with a sigh and a smile.

He snorted. “You didn't find our adjoining cells cozy?”

Kara turned to smile at him with a softness that made Mon-El’s breath catch in his throat. “You were really brave, Mon-El.”

He swallowed hard, willing his heart to slow down at how it had begun to race at the smile and the look she gave him. It wasn’t fair that she had this much of an affect on him…HOW did she have that much of an affect on him? On Daxam, it was usually HIM that managed to affect others, he’d never…he could never remember feeling anything like what Kara made him feel with just a smile. “I told you I was scared,” he argued weakly.

“Well, you could still be scared while being brave,” Kara remarked with a shrug. “Maybe there's a hero in you after all.”

He cleared his throat, actually feeling his cheeks start to warm at the compliment…HAD he ever gotten a compliment like that before? He was finding there was a lot she did that he could never remember someone else doing for him. Sure he got compliments about his body, his performance in bed, less than stellar remarks from his parents about how he was lacking in everything. But something like this? His potential, his possible bravery? Something actually IMPORTANT? Nothing.

“Well, any, uh, any courage I do have, I learned it from you,” he offered, unable to help himself from smiling in return.

“Kara!” The two of then nearly jumped from where they were smiling at each other when Winn called out and made his way over. “Hey, uh, Alex said that the oven's taking too long, she needs your help heating up another pizza.”

Kara let out a playful sigh, handing the potstickers to Mon-El as she got up. “Yup. A superhero's work is never done.”

Mon-El watched her go, saw her smiling at Alex and laughing, and, before he even realized he’d spoken, the words “Is Kara mated to someone?” slipped out of his mouth.

“Say what?” Winn asked.

Mon-El blinked, honestly surprised that had made it out of him, to see that James had also joined Winn near him on the couch, Winn sitting on the arm rest at the other end. He coughed slightly. “On Daxam, we had arranged marriages, chosen for you at birth. You reach a certain age, boom. You're latched to that person. Is that how it works here on Earth?”

“Uh, well, here on Earth, we call it getting hitched, not latched,” Winn explained, as Mon-El expected. Winn always seemed very kind and willing to detail the earth customs he wasn’t clear on. “And nowadays, you pretty much choose your own mate.”

Mon-El nodded slowly at that, his gaze returning to Kara almost against his will. “Has Kara chosen?”

“No, she has not,” James answered, though he seemed disappointed about that…before he glanced at Mon-El with a narrowed look. “Why do you ask?”

Mon-EL shrugged, not really wanting to give anything away to James especially, the man really didn’t seem keen on him. “Just…studying Earthly customs.”

They looked over when there was a knock on the door to see Maggie there, Alex excusing herself to step outside and speak with her. James headed over to join Kara leaving Winn and Mon-El on the couch.

“So what was that really about?” Winn asked as he shifted to sit on the couch with him.

“What?” Mon-El glanced at him, forcing himself to pull his gaze away from Kara smiling and laughing with James.

Winn gave him a small smirk. “I’m just “studying Earth customs?” Please.” He scoffed. “You like Kara.”

“Of course I like Kara,” Mon-El stated with a frown. “She’s an amazing person. Don’t you like her too?”

“Yeah, but you like her like her.”

Mon-El’s expression morphed into a confused one. “I’m lost.”

Winn chuckled lightly. “It’s an expression on Earth that means you have feelings for her that are more than friendship.”

”Oh.” Mon-El was silent. “I shouldn’t,” he finally admitted.

The truth was, he wanted to talk to someone about what he was feeling, how different his emotions had grown since arriving on Earth and getting to know this new Kara. But it felt like there was no one he could really do that with. James didn’t seem fond of him, Alex and J’onn were her family, and he wasn’t sure if that was appropriate to talk to people about that. Which just left Winn even though Kara had expressly told him not to turn to Winn for advice. But, then again, it had been in the context of Earth women and Kara was a Kryptonian woman…and Winn did seem to know a lot about aliens. So…it should be fine, right?

“Why not?” This time Winn frowned.

Mon-El hesitated, glancing at Kara. “She’s right there. Her powers are back and…”

Winn shook his head. “She won’t use her superhearing unless she’s intentionally using it,” he remarked, knowing Kara. “And James is distracting her. So…why not?”

Mon-El scratched the side of his face. “She was twelve.”

“And now she’s twenty five.”

Mon-El gave him a sideways look.

Winn started to nod, understanding. “You’re having a tough time reconciling the little girl with the not-quite-so-little girl.”

“I guess?” Mon-El shrugged, not knowing how else to explain it. “I see her as an adult, but…things happen or she says something and I just keep thinking about that little girl. And it’s not right that I feel that for her. But then she’ll do something else, or act a certain way, and I just get reminded she’s definitely NOT a little kid anymore…”

Winn seemed both hesitant to speak, as though the topic of Mon-El actually liking Kara made him uncomfortable, but also sympathetic, the sympathy seemed to win in the end. “You have got a bad case of Best Friend’s Sister Syndrome, my friend.”

“Is that a disease?” Mon-El asked, completely serious. “Does lead poisoning cause it?”

Winn almost laughed at that before he realized Mon-El was dead serious. “No, no, it’s…it’s this thing that happens on Earth. It’s usually like two guys are best friends, and one has a younger sister. For years the best friend sees her as just that, a little girl, his best friends little sister, but eventually she blooms into an amazing young woman and the best friend is freaking out over how to handle that. Because he looks at her and sees a woman, and wants to know more about her, but another part just can’t get over her being like that little sister to him too.”

“That is exactly how I feel,” Mon-El breathed, relieved to know there was an actual THING like that on Earth. “Except I didn’t have a best friend for Kara to be sister to…”

“The concept is the same though,” Winn argued lightly. “You want to be more than friends with grown up Kara, but it’s hard for you to see her as anything but kiddie Kara.”

“What do I do?”

Winn paused to think about it, not seeming sure if he should keep talking. It…made sense, to Mon-El, in a way. When Winn had gotten drunk their first night at the bar, he might have mumbled something about Kara and how he had had feeling for her. He had knocked it off as the drink since Winn hadn’t given him any indication, while sober, that he fancied Kara like that. But, looking at it now, at Winn’s expression…perhaps he DID still like Kara, perhaps not as much as before in that way, but he still had some sort of feelings for her. He felt bad to put Winn in such a spot, having to give someone else advice about the person he had feelings for as well…but Winn seemed to make a decision to go for it. From what he understood, Kara had gently turned him down, and Winn seemed to accept that he wasn’t the one for Kara…Winn was a good man like that. He wasn’t going to let his own defeat keep him from helping someone else that had potential to be Kara’s “one” either.

“It depends,” Winn offered. “If you really have feelings for grown up Kara. You just need to find a way to push past your memories of her as a kid and focus on seeing her as the adult she is. Forget about the kid you knew, get to know her NOW.”

Mon-El nodded slowly at that, his gaze on Kara once more as she seemed to blush at something James had said, which made him frown. Something twisted in his gut seeing her smiling and laughing and blushing with another man, especially one he knew had attempted to court Kara before he’d arrived on Earth. He was intimately familiar with this feeling though, jealousy. He was jealous that James was getting that reaction from Kara. HE wanted to be the one to bring out a blush on her face like that. He wanted to be the one that made her smile and got her to laugh. He wanted to be the one to have that expression directed at him…not James.

He inhaled sharply as Winn’s words finally registered with him. HE had feelings for Kara. He…he wanted to court Kara. He believed, from what he knew of Earth courting rituals, he wanted to be her boyfriend.

He nodded to himself as he started to smile. “You’re right,” he told Winn quietly. “I just have to…focus on the woman she is now.”

Across the room, Kara turned to check on the pizza, a wide grin on her face at the conversation she’d just overheard, the hope it was filling her with to hear Mon-El say those things. She should have felt bad about eavesdropping, but Mon-El had looked so conflicted and worried that she’d thought he was telling Winn some nefarious thing CADMUS had done to him and listened in. Her heart was racing now at the implication of Mon-El’s words. He might be interested in her as well but he just needed an extra push to see her as an adult instead of a kid…which was just perfect for the plan she had in mind. 

She felt like she could squeal so loudly Clark would be able to hear her in Metropolis…Mon-El wouldn’t know what hit him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry the new chapters for this and Betrayal were so slow this last week, it was a crazy busy one :-( But I'm hoping this week will slow down a little more and I can get back to updating more frequently :-)
> 
> As for this chapter, woo! Kara, you sneaky girl, listening in on a private conversation! But she's definitely not going to be holding back her plan to "win over" Mon-El now ;-)


	20. Plans in Motion

Mon-El smiled as he exchanged monetary units with a nice old woman in a store filled with flowers, taking the bundle of sunflowers she’d tied together for him as he made to leave the shop. The smile, however, dropped off his face the second he was out the door and he began to fiddle with the flowers, walking at a human pace back towards Kara’s loft. 

Was it too much? He’d seen movies that said the best thing to do was to give women flowers, especially if said woman was the host of a party. He, technically, should have brought food or wine or something for the host if it was a party involving food, but he didn’t know any earth recipes and when he’d tried to microwave food last week it had nearly caused an entire city block to be evacuated so he understood Kara kicking him out of the loft the second he was awake. Her mother-on-earth, an Eliza, was coming over to help her with the food and so was Alex. He didn’t doubt Winn and James were already at the loft as well. He’d wandered a little since he’d been kicked out and away from the kitchen, gone to the bar to ask what was the best alcohol they had to bring to a Thanksgiving Meal, whatever that was. The bartenders had been kind and reminded him the alcohol they served there was not meant for human dinners the way he intended. 

He’d gone to a supermarket, but there had been either too little wine choices or too many and he’d also remembered Kara mentioning not wanting much alcohol around Alex so he’d settled on buying flowers. He didn’t want to show up empty-handed and flowers seemed safe. But he didn’t know which flowers Kara liked so he’d just wandered the shop and looked at them all…and then he’d seen the sunflowers. They were so bright and happy and when he’d seen the sign that they were “SUNflowers” he knew they were perfect for Kara. They were happy and lively and golden and beautiful and shining and they thrived in the sun, just like she did.

Only now he was worried it was too much. He was trying, he really was, to get to know adult-Kara, to remind himself she was grown up now…but he was starting to worry that he was going about it wrong. He’d seen enough movies, thanks to Winn, to know that pursuing someone that was not interested in you ended badly…

The only problem with that was, he didn’t know if Kara was interested or not. 

On Daxam, anyone interested in anyone became a known thing VERY quickly. There were never these…games that humans seemed to like to play. There was never much flirting or coyness, little cat-and-mouse as it was called. If someone was interested in another, on Daxam, they would just have to SAY it. Then there usually came a returned interest, or at least a curiosity, which led to a bed shared that night, or a light refusal. But the refusals usually were fairly rare. For him, especially being the prince, most people were far too willing to share his bed. He never forced anyone, no one did, pleasure had to be reciprocated for it to be pleasurable for the first person, but no one tended to refuse the option of warming his bed at night. 

So he honestly wasn’t sure how Kara felt about HIM. She hadn’t outwardly said anything that made him think she was interested in him or…liked him liked him as Winn had called it. She had mentioned wanting to spend time with him, but friends did that all the time. He’d seen movies where friends got jealous or hurt when another entered a relationship and were around less and spent less time together. It COULD be that. It could just be Kara wanting him around as a friend. 

Which brought up another problem…he didn’t know what to do to gauge her interest. He knew, even in a Kryptonian sense, that marching up to her and declaring his interest in her as not acceptable. Her people were far too uptight to handle that well and the chances were she’d react badly and say something harsh or cruel to him in the moment and he would rather avoid that hurt. No, Kryptonians required a more delicate handling of their emotions and…

He jerked slightly in shock when he felt something in his pocket move. He pulled out the black communicator he’d been given to see a message from Kara. She wanted…stuffing? He was confused. It just read “Hey! If you get a chance, on your way back, can you please get some stuffing?” and that was it. Stuffing? Why would Kara need stuffing? Was her bed not adequate anymore? Were the pillows flat? Or…oh. The couch. It had to be the couch. He’d slept on it so often and with his new “weight” or “density” or whatever it was Winn had called it on earth, he probably had smushed the couch cushions too much by sleeping on them. If Kara was hosting a party, she’d want her cushions to be plush.

He nodded to himself and turned, heading for the DEO. He still technically had an assigned dorm there, a stipulation of J’onn’s should his custody with Kara be revoked. He could get stuffing there just fine. 

And…if he was being honest…he was sort of happy to be away from the loft for just a little while more, he felt as he walked into the DEO.

He…he really needed this time alone to sort through something else that was bothering him. Kara had been acting…odd, the last few days. It had started after they’d escape CADMUS, which he would have just put off as her being overly concerned about the wound in his leg that had healed quite well. Kara had been doting on him, which he appreciated, but there was always something slightly off about it.

She sat closer to him on the couch, would lean on him and rest her head on his shoulder when they watched a movie. She was always asking about his leg just before lightly touching the spot where he’d been shot, not hard enough to cause any discomfort, but enough for him to feel her hand there which always made him jump given how close it was to other parts of his body. One time she’d leaned over to put a tray of food on his lap and must not have realized the top two buttons of her work shirt were open and he’d gotten an eyeful down the top of her shirt before his eyes shot to the ceiling.

It wasn’t just that, he expected Kara would dote on people if they were sick or injured, but after he’d gotten better…there were just a series of events that really got to him. He tried to shake his head from the thoughts, making his way to his dorm and setting the flowers aside, using the pillowcase to hold the stuffing that he started to rip out of the mattress, his thoughts still drifting.

He’d woken up once to the sound of Kara making breakfast and he’d rolled over on the couch to greet her…only to choke on air when he saw her. She was not wearing her typical flannel pajamas, but shorts that were shorter than her Supergirl skirt, and a very thin strapped tank top that rode up slightly when she stretched to grab something off a cabinet. He’d actually had to hit himself to tear his eyes away from the sight of her legs and how his gaze was drifting up to dangerous territory. She’d turned around with a bright smile, not seeming to notice the red on his cheeks or how he’d moved a pillow onto his lap. She’d just gone about her day like normal, commenting offhandedly about the thermostat breaking in the middle of the night and the apartment feeling swelteringly hot. He hadn’t argued, certainly feeling swelteringly hot at that moment.

It kept on after that too. Kara had asked him once to help her decide on an outfit for an important interview and changed clothes quite a few times, showing off her outfits for him. She supersped off to change into the different ones…and hadn’t seemed to realize he could keep up with her superspeed with his supereyes. After he’d gotten the first glimpse of her pulling her dress over her head, he’d made sure to look at his hands whenever she went to change into another outfit.

There had also been one time he’d come back to the loft very late at night, having been at M’gann’s bar till it closed, helping some of the bartenders deal with a quite rowdy alien, using his superstrength to keep things from escalating. He’d been exhausted from a day of job searching and gone there to just relax a moment, before returning to the loft. He’d wanted to take a quick shower and just drop to bed…when he’d opened the door to see Kara already in the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her, having just gotten out of the shower herself. She’d yelled at him to get out and he’d ended up far too wide away to sleep that entire night…

Wait…

Mon-El stiffened, mid-stuff, as something niggled at him.

Kara was Kryptonian. If he, a Daxamite, couldn’t feel weather, even the most extreme…then HOW had Kara felt the “sweltering” of her loft? It wouldn’t have affected her that much that she’d change clothing. And…she knew that he could keep up with her superspeed. She’d done that in training once or twice, tried to superspeed behind him or get him to lose sight of her but he always managed to keep his eye on her. 

Wait a minute! 

Kara had superhearing too! She would have…she would have heard him coming to her loft that one night. He wasn’t moving particularly fast, she would have heard him approaching the bathroom. And with her own superspeed she could have gotten dressed before he’d even stepped through her front door…so why…

Why had those things happened then?

Mon-El sat down on what was left of his unstuffed bed as another thought made its way through his mind.

Had…had Kara done that on purpose?

But why? What would she gain from doing that other than driving him insane? …had she done it to do just that? Did she…did she not want him living with her anymore and that was her way of trying to remind him it was HER loft? Did she…did she want him to move out? Was it her way of reclaiming her loft?

But…she didn’t seem angry with him, or upset, or given any other sign that she was irritated with him being there. 

What else could it be?

He suddenly felt very heavy as he sat on the bed, like there was a weight in his stomach holding him down. It was an unsettling feeling, thinking that he’d done something to upset Kara and not even realize it. Usually he could tell when he’d gotten her irritated, she was vocal when she was upset about things, she acted out, she said things…maybe she just didn’t want to? Maybe she was keeping quiet out of guilt for his injury? She wanted him out but couldn’t actually bring herself to DO it?

He really hoped it wasn’t the case, he…he liked living with Kara, he liked having someone around that reminded him of home, that he wasn’t alone. But if Kara wanted him out…

He shook his head, no…he’d…he’d do better. He’d find a job, he’d contribute, he’d learn how to cook and…and he’d clean. He’d do something, anything, to show her that he appreciated what she’d done for him, that he was thankful for her help. He’d find some way to make his stay there less burdensome and more helpful. 

He nodded to himself, he’d start by bringing her the stuffing she wanted and…and being extra nice to her mother and go from there.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Kara beamed when she opened the door to her loft to see Mon-El standing there.

“Jolly Thanksgiving!” he cheered, holding up a bag of…something…and a bundle of sunflowers in his hands.

Kara couldn’t help but laugh at that. “It's "Happy Thanksgiving,”” she corrected lightly.

“Oh, right,” he murmured, handing her the bag in his hand. “Happy…”

“What’s this?” Kara opened it up and pulled out some sort of white, fluffy material.

“You asked for stuffing,” Mon-El replied. “So I ripped open a mattress at the DEO and pulled some out.”

Kara had to smile at that fondly, amused by his misunderstanding and chiding herself for not having explained it more clearly to him before. “Oh, uh, well, that's not quite what I meant…”

“Kara!” a voice called and they turned to see Eliza walking over to them. “Is this your friend from Daxam you were telling me about?”

“Yes.” Kara quickly put the stuffing into the bag and stepped beside her mother. “Um, this is my adopted mother. Doc…”

“Doctor Danvers!” Mon-El cut in lightly, quickly stepping up to the woman and offering her the sunflowers. “It is an honor and a privilege.”

“Please, call me Eliza,” her mother smiled, making Kara blink and look between them.

“Eliza,” Mon-El corrected. “Well, Kara tells me that you're a brilliant scientist. That must be riveting. I have to hear about this science. What is science?”

Kara openly gaped as Mon-El completely bypassed her to lead Eliza off, fixated on talking to her about “science.”

“Are you ok?” Alex asked, moving over to her shell-shocked side.

“Um…yeah?” Kara blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of what just happened. “I think Mon-El is hitting on Eliza.”

“No way,” Alex snorted, amused at how offended Kara sounded n those last seven words.

“And, uh he brought stuffing.” She lightly pulled the stuffing out to show Alex but her gaze was still locked on Mon-El and Eliza…who was now laughing at something Mon-El had said.

Had she…had she done something wrong? Had she BEEN wrong about him and his possible interest in her? Had she just completely misunderstood his conversation with Winn those few days ago? 

She didn’t think she had. She’d tried to gauge his interest in her, tried to push her own boundaries and step out of her comfort zone to do it. She didn’t know much about Daxam or their courting customs, but…she felt like she knew enough about what he’d want and expect and she’d tried to help him also see her as an adult every chance she could get.

She’d tried to remind him she was an adult with a job by showing him her professional clothing for an interview she was conducting. She was a self-sustaining professional. She had responsibilities that she upheld. She had changed up her nightly attire so he’d be sure to notice that her body wasn’t a child’s in the morning. She HAD to buy some shorter pajamas in her past, to blend in with others. Being in college when the heat went wonky and wearing full-body flannel was a dead give away that she was an alien so she’d invested in summer and winter pajamas. He’d seemed to notice her change, she’d seen his gaze locked on her more than normal. She’d even…well…it had been an accident when he’d walked in on her in the bathroom after her shower. She’d heard him come in but hadn’t expected him to head to the bathroom so soon. Once she’d heard him approaching she’d inwardly freaked out about whether to let him get an eyeful of her (and promptly crushed it because that was going WAY too far for her) and scrambling to get dressed and ended up awkwardly standing there in a towel as a result. That had definitely seemed to affect him though. She did everything she could think of to remind him she was an adult. She took care of him like he did her on Daxam, made sure he saw she could cook (breakfast at least) and provide for him with take out and she worked and was supergirl and an adult…

She’d even selected her dress and hairstyle to help that today too. Her dress was quaint, but it showed off her legs and her arms, it was fitted on top and flowy around her hips. And her hair? It was up in an intricate braid on top of her head to emphasize her neck and frame her face more…but he hadn’t even glanced away from her eyes until Eliza stepped up and then he’d just…forgotten her and gone after Eliza?

Had she just read all of this entirely wrong?

She shook her head and moved away from Alex, over to where Eliza was looking for a vase for the flowers, having finally left Mon-El with James and Winn on the couch. “So,” she cleared her throat. “You really hit it off with Mon-El.”

Eliza gave her a look for her tone and it wasn’t till then that Kara realized her tone had a hint of jealousy and irritation in it. Eliza just seemed amused as she gave a gentle laugh. “Oh, Kara. He's chatting me up because I'm your mother.”

“…what?”

“He likes YOU,” Eliza informed her. 

Kara glanced over at Mon-El, laughing at something Winn had said, before his gaze drifted up to her and he smiled at her. She looked back down, a faint blush on her cheeks. “You…think so?” she asked her mother quietly.

“Yes,” Eliza reassured her, reaching out to touch her shoulder. “He's trying to score points with me to impress you.” She rubbed Kara’s shoulder, watching as the girl glanced at Mon-El again, already able to see her daughter had some interest in Mon-El as well. “Believe me. A mother knows. Now, come on, this turkey looks so good I can’t wait to taste it.”

Kara smiled at her mother and took the turkey, carrying it to the table, signaling for the others to gather around it.

…and if she happened to position herself so that the empty chair beside her would be filled by Mon-El, no one needed to know.

“Kara,” Eliza broke through her thoughts. “Will you do us the honors?”

“Oh,” Kara snapped herself out and stood up, holding a glass of wine in her hand. “Yes. So…it is a Danvers family tradition that, before the meal, we go around and we say what we're thankful for, so whoever wants to go first…”

She sat back down as pretty much everyone else beside her and Eliza scrambled to stand.

“I wanna go first,” James cut in just as Alex tried to speak. She shot him a glare but sat back down, Mon-El following her example. “Kara, I for one would like to say how thankful I am to have such an understanding friend.”

“Oh, he's right,” Winn agreed. “You are so understanding.”

“You are.”

“No, she’s not,” Alex cut in, seeming both amused and warning at the same time.

“Yes, she is,” James insisted.

“No,” Alex shot him a pointed look. “She's not.”

Mon-El cleared his throat, sensing the tension between Alex and the other men, seeing how Kara was starting to frown and not wanting that. So he quickly stood up, allowing James an exit to sit. “Yeah, I just wanna…I just wanna say something. I'm also thankful for you, Kara,” he turned to her. “Um because not only are you understanding, but you're also gracious. Out of everybody who could have found me in that pod, I'm the luckiest guy in the world that it was you.”

Kara smiled softly at that, her heart skipping a beat and hoping that he really meant that. because if he did…then maybe she hadn’t read the situation completely wrong after all…

“I'm just going to jump in,” Alex called, snapping Kara from her thoughts and pulling her gaze away from Mon-El as she stood. “And say there are so many things that I'm thankful for. And, honestly, I don't think I've ever really felt this much like myself than right now, and so there's a reason for that. And that reason? Well, that reason is…”

Kara gave Alex an encouraging look, knowing she was gathering her courage to come out to her friends and family…only for something to spring to life above her table, like a swirling, clear vortex of some sort.

They all jumped up, backing away as they stared at it warily, on edge, ready to fight if something came through…but it just blinked out of existence a moment later.

Mon-El looked around at their startled faces and leaned closer to Kara. “Does that normally happen on Thanksgiving?”

Kara could only shake her head, hoping that wasn’t going to be an omen of some sort but feeling like, with her luck as a superhero, that’s exactly what it would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh our poor space puppies, they both just need to TALK about their feelings, don't they? :-)
> 
> I feel like that could be something that happened. Kara would assume what Mon-El would need to see her as an adult by what she knows of Daxamite culture, but she doesn't understand it so she's sort of missing the point. And Mon-El is trying to view the situation via what he knows of Kryptonians, and not following his own planet's customs of just making his interest clear. So they're both just missing the messages because of a mistake in culture. 
> 
> Communication is the key, wonder if they'll figure that out... ;-)
> 
> I also feel like that would be something Mon-El would take from it. He really has no idea how courting goes about on Earth, just Daxam, and movies which all have different reasons behind things. I feel like with his sense of self-worth, he would assume that it was Kara's way of pushing him out, that she just regrets taking him in :-(


	21. Biological Warfare

Mon-El found himself sitting at the counter of M’gann’s bar later that night, tapping it till one of the bartenders slid a mug of ale towards him. It wasn’t any special sort of beer, not from any specific planet, but more a home cooked concoction that tasted like an Earth beer but had enough alcohol to actually affect aliens. And he WAS trying to get to know Earth customs so he figured he ought to try it.

“Wow,” a voice spoke beside him as he took a sip. “You must be a regular here.”

He glanced over to see an alien with ridges on her face, along her bone structure, had sat down beside him. It was a female, judging by the voice and hair and clothing. His eyes flickered up to her blonde hair (the wrong shade of yellow), down to her blue eyes (the wrong shade of blue, and to her smile (not as wide or bright as the one that made his heart stutter in his chest). She was attractive in her own right, he could see that, he wasn’t blind, but there was something holding him back from actually FEELING that attraction.

“So, are you looking for some company?” she asked, shooting him a coy smile. “I am very good company.”

He expected to feel that cocky smugness he felt when Eve had flirted with him, when she’d pulled him into the supply closet for a private moment. He expected to feel a familiar rush through him, like when Giggles had sent him and Kara a round of drinks. And he expected to feel that casual shrug within him to go “why not?” and take her up on the offer…

But nothing happened. 

He was flattered, of course, that she was interested in him, that she found him attractive…but that was as far as it went. A large part of him didn’t want the attention anymore, and as he sat there and looked at her, at her yellow hair and blue eyes and wide smile…he knew why.

Kara.

He may not know much of Earth customs, or Kryptonian customs, when it came to courting but he knew enough about Kara to know that she was someone worth dedicating his whole self to, someone worth committing to and not just spending a night with her. She was the sort of person who would commit herself to her partner as well and not appreciate an open relationship (if that was what it was called?). Earth customs would dictate, if someone wanted a relationship with one person, they should NOT enter into any sort of relationship, no matter how fleeting or meaningless, with someone else.

He let out a breath as that emotion overwhelmed him. Well, at least that answered his questions to Winn and Winn’s to him. 

He…he liked Kara. He wanted to court Kara, and only Kara. He was interested in her and he wanted the chance to see if she might like him like him back.

He wouldn’t be able to do that if he took this woman up on her offer. 

And he didn’t even feel regretful to say no.

“Yeah, I'm sure you are,” he remarked. “And I actually am looking for company, but with someone else.” 

Just because he wasn’t interested (not something he’d ever thought he’d feel), didn’t mean he would be cruel about it or harsh in turning her down.

“Ah,” the woman didn’t seem upset, which was a good thing, she was still smiling, seemed understanding…

But something caught his eye past her shoulder. “I'm sorry, excuse me.”

He quickly got up and followed the hooded figure that he SWORE looked like J’onn at first glance out of the bar. 

“J’onn?” he called hesitantly the second they were away from other people. He’d fallen for a trap where someone looked like J’onn before, he wasn’t going to risk calling the man out (if it WASN’T J’onn) in front of a bar full of innocent people.

As it turned out, he’d been right as the man turned around, revealing his cybernetic eye and instantly attacked him for it. He did his best to defend himself, but ended up kicked into a wire fence and then punched into the side of a dumpster for his troubles.

He’d staggered to his feet, only for Hank Henshaw to run off as screams sounded from inside the bar. He hesitated for only a moment, looking between Henshaw’s disappearing figure and the humans running out of the bar, before he took off for the bar.

He pushed his way in, looking around, trying to determine what was going on, what was wrong. “Hey, what happened?”

A fleeing human called out, “They're dead! All the aliens are dead!”

Mon-El rushed past her, squinting through the faint fog that had invaded the bar, to see the aliens were on the ground, all of them with their eyes wide in fear…including the female alien who had been chatting with him.

He didn’t even know her name.

“Grife,” he muttered, before pulling out his communicator and quickly calling J’onn.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Mon-El huffed as he, once again, found himself inside a DEO cell. He was starting to think being a hero was not for him. Do a good deed, end up in a prison cell, that was exactly what his experience with this entire “heroism” thing was going so far.

“Is this really necessary?” he asked, crossing his arms and standing right by the class wall, looking at Kara, J’onn, and Alex standing on the other side. “I feel fine.”

At least this time he wasn’t being imprisoned so much as “quarantined” as J’onn had called it. Not that it felt much different. Whatever it was that had killed the aliens, it had been IN the bar, which he had run into, and he understood they were concerned about whatever it was latching onto him or already infecting him. But given how quickly whatever it was had killed the patrons of the bar, he was still standing so didn’t that mean he’d just missed it?

“I could do 1,000 push-ups one-handed,” he added when the others made no move to let him out.

“While that's very impressive,” J’onn deadpanned. “We can't risk you transmitting whatever you were exposed to in the bar to the rest of us.”

“Which begs the question, what the hell was he exposed to?” Alex muttered, a deep frown on her face.

“Tell us what happened again,” Kara asked.

Mon-El sighed and plopped down on the cot in the cell. “I already I told you guys. I saw you.” He gestured to J’onn. “But not you, the real you, the original Hank Henshaw. I followed him outside, we fought and I lost. And then I heard the screams.”

“So you went back to help,” Kara murmured, the smallest of smiles on her face at how he’d gone to help, he’d heard someone in distress and rushed to help them. But she didn’t add more about how it proved he had all the potential to be a hero, really not wanting to push him even more than she had.

“If I hadn't followed him outside in the first place, I could have stopped this,” Mon-El countered, guilt eating him up as he thought of that. He had no idea how he could have managed that, he didn’t even know what caused the deaths in the first place, but he liked to think his superhearing or super senses could have helped get some aliens out at least.

Kara shook her head. “The only reason you're still alive is because you chased Hank Henshaw outside.”

Mon-El looked up at her for that, hearing a note of gratitude in her voice. It was a minor balm to the guilt eating away at him, that she was at least grateful he had survived, but it didn’t help much beyond that. All he kept thinking about was how he was alive when so many others were dead. Just like his planet.

WHY did HE keep surviving? When he’d done nothing to deserve it? Kara’s words about how it might be something he still had yet to do didn’t help him with this. Because he hadn’t done anything except avoid the deaths and get there too late.

“I have never heard of a weapon, bio or otherwise, that can target only alien physiology,” Alex remarked, sounding deeply concerned. And why wouldn’t she be? Her sister was an alien and someone had manufactured something that could kill aliens. “And that thing killed everything in that bar except human beings. I would like to bring my mother in to help analyze the crime scene. She specializes in astrobiology, I think she could really help.”

“That's a good idea,” J’onn agreed.

“Great,” Kara muttered, turning to head out. “Let's get going.”

“No, no, no, no, no, no,” J’onn cut in. “You and I will remain quarantined here at the DEO until we can figure out exactly what sort of toxin we're dealing with.”

“J'onn, this is CADMUS! I know it. They're planning something.”

“My _alien_ sister is not leaving here until we figure out how Cadmus was able to target only _aliens_ ,” Alex reminded her.

J’onn nodded. “It's better safe than sorry.”

Mon-El watched as Kara huffed, watching J’onn and Alex leave the room before he sighed himself. “Looks like we’re back to the adjoining cells,” he remarked, earning her attention. “At least there’s better quality accommodations this time.”

Kara cracked a small smile. “Still no Zakkarian Ale.”

“Ooh,” he mock-groaned. “You just HAD to remind me! I really could go for one after what I’ve been through.”

Kara’s smile began to fall as she stepped closer to the glass. “That’s…something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.”

“Zakkarian ale?” Mon-El perked up. “Wanna give it a go?”

“No.” Kara shook her head, her expression growing serious. “Ale. Alcohol in general. You drinking it…”

“What’s wrong with drinking alcohol?” he asked, frowning. “There’s an entire building dedicated to serving alcohol to aliens to drink. YOU drank some too…”

“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Kara remarked. “Ever since you woke up on Earth, you’ve just…been drinking.”

“And?”

“It’s not healthy.”

“Kara,” Mon-El actually started to laugh a little. “On Daxam I was drinking before I even hit my teens.”

“That’s not a good thing, Mon-El.”

“Why, because Krypton values sobriety so very much?”

“Because I know why you’re drinking on Earth and it’s not going to help you forget what happened to Daxam.”

Mon-El was silent at her very sharp, and very on-target words.

“…ouch.”

Kara flinched at the word even though he hadn’t said it in a harsh way. She understood her words, how they came out, how they sounded, how she’d said them, were indeed harsh though. 

“After Jeremiah disappeared,” Kara began. “Alex had a really hard time dealing with it. She acted out, started getting in trouble, eventually started drinking, because she wanted to forget what happened and not feel like it was her fault. She wanted control over how she felt so she’d drink so that she felt something, and she felt it when she WANTED to feel it.”

“I’m not Alex,” he reminded her. “That’s not why I…”

“Daxam had drugs and alcohol and…and other things,” Kara cut in lightly. “That you could do to not feel things. And I get it, I do, the DEO basically outlawed you using one of those three things and you can’t get away with the other thing without hurting a human…”

Mon-El looked away from her at that last reference, that reminder that if he tried sex with a human woman he really COULD hurt her.

“You only have the alcohol left.”

“I still don’t see why that’s such a problem?” Mon-El looked back at her. “Have I abused it to a dangerous extent? Have I developed a worrying dependency? Have I acted in some manner that threatens your custody of me?”

Kara hesitated to answer, knowing he was waiting for her to say it. “No.”

“I have full control over how much I drink and when I drink and what I drink. I have my entire life. I don’t need a Kryptonian to tell me what I can and can’t…”

“What about a friend?” Kara cut in again. 

“What?”

“You don’t need a Kryptonian to tell you how to live your life, but what about a friend expressing concern for you?” She moved to rest against the wall of his cell, as close to him as she could get at the moment. “I care about you Mon-El, and I…I worry about you. You haven’t been sleeping much and whenever you have time between finding a job or training with me, you’re at the bar drinking. I just…” she looked away, blinking back tears. “I saw how it tore Alex apart, and I couldn’t do anything to stop her. I was too scared to say anything. I thought if I did, she’d resent me and hate me. I was wrong. I don’t want to make that same mistake again and let someone keep hurting because I didn’t speak up. You mean too much to me to just…stand by while you’re in pain and I can help.”

Mon-El was quiet for a long while.

“How can you help?”

Kara’s eyes snapped up at his soft words, spoken so quietly SHE almost missed it. “I’ve been there,” she reminded him. “I lost everything too. My friends, my family, my people, my planet. I’ve had the nightmares, I’ve had the anger and the resentment and the…the questions about why I had to survive when no one else but Kal did. I’m here for you Mon-El, of anyone on Earth, I understand how you feel.”

Mon-El looked down. “I don’t…want to burden you.”

“You wouldn’t be burdening me.”

He scoffed at that. “I already am,” he looked at her again. “I live in your home, I eat your food, I do nothing to help contribute. I take up your time and your energy and your patience. The last thing I want to do is disrupt your sleep with my dreams or…or bring up memories you know you’d rather forget.”

“That isn’t your decision to make,” Kara reminded him. “You don’t get to decide what I give up or what I don’t, what I’m willing to endure to help someone or not. It’s MY choice, and if I want you to talk to me, or feel like you CAN talk to me, even if the topic is painful and hurts, then I will. And I do want you to come to me, Mon-El, whenever you need something. You always took care of me on Daxam, let me take care of you now.”

Mon-El stared at her, seeing her blue eyes imploring him to let her in, to let her help, to give him another outlet for his pain than to try and drink it away. He didn’t want to give in though, the memories he had, the nightmares he only barely managed to wake himself from without waking HER too…they were bad. Worse yet, they were things he was ashamed of, things he didn’t want her to know the extent of. She knew he was the prince, he knew she’d likely heard rumors about his exploits, but he also knew she’d seen him as a friend when she was younger.

…he didn’t want to lose that.

He didn’t want to lose the scrap of respect and admiration she had had for him as a child. He didn’t want to lose her friendship or…or her belief in him.

And…he didn’t want to lose her. He didn’t want to lose his chance to express how he felt about her, or his chance to see if they could be something more. He…he knew he wasn’t a man that deserved a woman like Kara, for he knew she was a woman now. He was afraid that, if he talked to her, if he spoke of those things in his past that haunted him, she would realize he wasn’t worthy of her and write him off.

But sitting there, looking at her pleading with him to open up…wanting so desperately to help him that to deny her the chance would HURT her…he couldn’t do it either.

“Ok,” he murmured, cracking a small smile at how she beamed at him. “I’ll try.”

“That’s all I’m asking,” she agreed.

“No Zakkarian Ale,” he added in a light joke.

“No alcohol,” she corrected, a teasing note in her voice.

“Then this is going to be a very boring party.”

She laughed. “We may not have any drinks, but I think I can sneak us in a game or two.”

“What kind of game?”

Kara rolled her eyes at his waggling eyebrows. “Ever heard of Monopoly in all your Earthly research?”

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

“Oh, crap!” Kara exclaimed as she landed on a particularly bad spot on the Monopoly board.

“Aw, sucks for you,” Mon-El teased, laughing at her situation. “My turn…” He gestured at the board sitting before Kara on the other side of the glass. “I mean, please.”

Kara nodded, rolling the dice for him, beaming when she moved his piece to an even WORSE location. “And you're in jail!”

“That feels appropriate,” he murmured.

Kara looked up at him, a soft smile on her face. “You'll be out of here soon enough. Both of us will. So don't pout.” She had to look away when he did just that, made an exaggerated pout at her. It was adorable, really, it should be illegal just how cute he looked doing that. She shook her head, clearing her throat as she tried to make the next move…but really…she had to ask him something that had been niggling at her for a while now. And, well, he couldn’t exactly run from her or use the excuse of having a job interview to escape the loft now. “Hey, you don't, uh…you don't like me, do you?”

She steeled herself for his answer. Despite what Eliza said, despite what she’d overheard him say to Winn…a part of her was truly afraid that she’d gotten it all wrong and he…he didn’t like her. It was better to just…KNOW…now, than to try and beat around the bush. If he didn’t like her…she’d be ok, she’d…she’d move on, she just…she needed to know.

Hearing about all those aliens, how they’d died so quickly, how Mon-El had been so lucky to not be there when whatever it was that killed them had gotten to them? It just reminded her that time was precious, he could have been there, he could have died with them and she would have never had the chance to tell him how she felt or find out how he felt. She didn’t want to waste anymore time.

“Of course I like you.”

Kara’s heart stopped at his words, till the way he’d said them caught up to her. He’d said it so instantly, so casually, like he was literally just stating a fact and not revealing his innermost emotions…she realized that he’d taken it in a literal sense. He thought she was just asking if he liked her in general.

“No, I mean…” She took a breath. “You don't like me-like me?”

Mon-El stiffened, trying not to let on his inner freak out at her words, her very specific words…words Winn had only just explained to him what they meant. And so…he ended up freaking out outwardly by trying to play off like he had no idea what those words meant. “Like you-like you? Sorry, English is my second language…”

“My mom, Eliza, she…she thought you were being extra nice to her on Thanksgiving. That's like a thing that boys on this planet do. They're nice to the moms of girls they have crushes on sometimes.”

Mon-El cleared his throat, which suddenly felt very dry as he heard something else in her voice, as he really LOOKED at her face, her expression as she spoke. She was looking down, her lips quirking up, a faint blush on her cheeks…he may not know Earth customs or phrases well…but he knew body language. It was a major part of Daxam culture, to observe the signs others gave off with their bodies, to gauge interest and heighten pleasure by noticing things unspoken…

Kara…she wasn’t speaking like she was just explaining something to him.

She was talking like it was something she wanted to experience, like it was something…something she was _hoping_ for.

He coughed again. “Kara…” he began delicately, his heart starting to pound as he suddenly felt quite warm. His mind was racing at what this could mean to the point he almost felt lightheaded with…with hope. “Do you…” He cleared his throat. “Do you WANT me to like you-like you?”

“No, no of course not,” Kara responded instantly, still looking down, her mannerisms betraying her…

“You’re…” Mon-El coughed again. “You’re crinkling.”

Kara squeezed her eyes shut tight, a hand shooting up to her brow, feeling the crinkle. “I mean…” She took a breath, keeping her eyes closed, it would be easier to get it out without having to see his expression, without having to face his rejection. “I don’t…I don’t want you to do anything just because I…I might…want you to.”

“Kara…” Mon-El cleared his throat a little more forcefully, frowning now as he rubbed his chest, his heart wasn’t just racing now…it was pounding and…and he was sure the black spots in his vision weren’t normal. “Kara…” he started to wheeze.

“Mon-El?” Kara’s eyes shot open at the sound of pain in his voice.

But he started coughing, so hard his body was shaking with the force of it, before he collapsed to the side, his body jerking on the ground.

“Mon-El!” She cried, jumping to her feet and pulling the door to his cell open, setting off neutralizing sprays and red alarms.

“Warning! Containment breach!”

“Hey!” Kara rushed to his side, gathering him in her arms. “Hey!”

“Warning! Containment breach!”

“Stay with me,” she begged him, but his eyes began to roll back into his skull. “Stay with me!”

“Warning! Containment breach!”

Kara looked around frantically, Mon-El’s shaking getting worse before his body went limp in her hold. “HELP!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :-O
> 
> What's this!? Kara might have made the first little step towards Karamel!? :-D 
> 
> ...but with what Mon-El was going through, will he remember what they were talking about before he passed out? Hmm...questions, questions...
> 
> We'll have to wait and see ;-)
> 
> I was going to end this chapter on Kara bringing up Monopoly, but with how erratic my updating was last week, I felt like I could stretch the chapter out a little longer to the good parts ;-) And yay for open discussions and revelations about emotions :-D


	22. Infection

Kara paced outside of the infirmary door, her gaze locked on Mon-El as he rested on an examination bed, Eliza beside him checking his vitals. She’d wanted to rush in there and be with him, hold his hand, to something, anything, to help…but J’onn had ordered her to remain outside. With how reckless she’d been to break his quarantine, even with the reaction he was having, he wasn’t about to risk her getting infected with whatever Mon-El clearly had. The misting sprays would have helped keep the infection back, but they couldn’t be sure entirely.

“How is he?” she demanded the second Eliza stepped out of the room.

Eliza sighed. “He's stable for now.”

“Thank Rao,” Kara mumbled, about to head into the room.

But Eliza shook her head. “He IS infected.”

J’onn rubbed his forehead at that. “Did he pass it on to Kara?”

If Supergirl contracted what Mon-El had they would have far more to worry about than just Mon-El. Because she’d been out and in contact with others, with him too, and that could mean they were all in danger now.

Eliza, however, gave him the smallest of reassuring smiles. “The virus isn't transmittable organism-to-organism. You have to come in contact with a weaponized aerosol in order to be infected.”

“Well, that's some good news,” Alex tried to be positive.

Eliza’s expression just grew grim. “There's something else. I isolated a strand of the virus from Mon-El's blood…”

Kara flinched at that remark. Mon-El’s skin was indestructible, like hers was. Save for lead and she refused, absolutely refused to let them take his blood using the very thing that could poison him, especially with how weakened he was. But it hadn’t been necessary, Mon-El had started to cough up blood which was a terrifying thing to witness.

“Based on the protein code,” Eliza hesitated before looking at Kara. “I'm fairly certain the virus is from Krypton.”

Kara could only blink and stare at her for that.

“A Kryptonian virus?” Alex’s voice mimicked the confusion Kara felt. “How did CADMUS even get its hands on that?”

Kara was more concerned with the notion of a virus like that even existing in the first place. It was a virus that, so far, hadn’t affected her, but had killed numerous aliens and was at risk of killing Mon-El. She wracked her brain trying to think of any sort of illness or cold on Krypton that could do something like this to other aliens. But absolutely nothing was coming to mind…and if it was a Kryptonian virus, then SHE should have been affected even more quickly than Mon-El was.

She pushed that thought aside for a moment, thinking about what Alex had just said. HOW had CADMUS even gotten a hold of it. They had her blood, yes, but there was nothing in her system, as far as she knew, that could ever be used to create a virus. The only other thing her blood was good for was letting her into…

She tensed as the pieces fell into place. “My blood. That's why they needed it. To get in.”

“To get into what?” Alex frowned.

“The Fortress of Solitude.”

That was the only thing that made sense. The Fortress was the only other place on Earth that had any sort of information on Krypton. The DEO had a handful of copies, given to them by herself and Clark, but only a select few and NONE that would have any sort of information on a virus like this. But the Fortress? It had a wealth of knowledge about Krypton…it was the best place to start looking for a cure for Mon-El.

She turned and supersped off, needing to get there and back as fast as possible. Mon-El’s life and, likely, the lives of other aliens depended on it.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

In hindsight, Kara felt like she should have expected the outcome of her trip to the Fortress. If CADMUS had been able to break in, trick all the security into allowing their presence, there was no way they’d not take advantage of it and try to turn her own system against her. She’d had to destroy a part of her home in order to get to the information she needed, but she’d gotten it. 

And it had been nothing like she’d expected. She’d thought it was just some old virus that got caught on the ships and sent to Earth, or some sort of illness her family would warn her to watch out for, not knowing how the yellow-sun would affect her. She’d thought it might be something like smallpox or some other bioweapon that CADMUS had been able to modify using her blood and information on it from Krypton.

She had NOT expected it to be a virus her own father had created that would wipe out anything non-Kryptonian. His hologram had claimed it was “in the event of an invasion” and to save lives…only he meant Kryptonian lives. 

A cold pit had opened in her stomach when the hologram had emphasized that.

Because there was no logical reason for her father to have sent THAT virus WITH her to Earth, a planet full of non-Kryptonians, unless he thought she might need to use it. And given that she and Clark were the ONLY Kryptonians left? What had her father thought she’d use it for? Against who? 

She forced herself not to think he’d intended for her or Clark to use it against the humans.

Already it was being used against other “aliens.” Clearly CADMUS had been able to alter the basic formula, modify it so that it wouldn’t harm humans either. Not even Lilian Luthor would use the virus if it was going to kill herself and all the other humans she wanted to “protect” from aliens. CADMUS had done something to keep that anti-Kryptonian formula but adapted it to bypass humans as well.

“Henshaw stole the virus's formula from the Fortress of Solitude,” she explained quickly as she led J’onn, Alex, and Eliza through the DEO and towards Mon-El’s room. She hadn’t stopped explaining what she had learned since she’d touched down, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself moving to check on him either. “Which means CADMUS can make as much of the virus as they want.”

“An unstoppable bio-weapon that kills every alien except Kryptonians,” J’onn muttered behind her. “The news just gets better and better.”

“Well, that explains why Mon-El is still alive,” Alex added. “Kryptonians and Daxamites share similar DNA.”

Kara stopped quickly to turn and face her sister and mother, hope flaring to life inside her. “So, he'll recover?”

Eliza’s face said it all.

“His immune system is battling the virus and he is fighting hard,” Eliza told her. “But without a cure, the infection will win.”

Kara looked away at that, her jaw clenching as she willed herself not to show how upset she was. If she was upset, her mother and sister’s first instinct would be to comfort and reassure her, worry about HER, and she needed them to focus on the cure, for all alien’s sake, but especially for Mon-El. Right now his life was in more jeopardy than other aliens as he was currently fighting the infection.

“Well, here's everything I found on the virus at the Fortress.” She quickly handed over a crystal with the data on it to Eliza.

Alex nodded, understanding a mission when she was given one. “Mom and I will get to work on it right away. We'll find a way to combat it.”

Kara didn’t even watch them both turn to head off, simply moving to look through the windows of Mon-El’s room. He was still asleep, his vitals stable.

“Are you alright?” J’onn asked. 

Kara took a deep breath and forced herself to nod. “Yeah.” She didn’t need Mon-El’s commentary to know she was crinkling as she turned away from J’onn to enter Mon-El’s room. “I'll be fine.”

She moved to sit at his bedside, staring down at him, waiting till she heard J’onn walk away before she reached out and touched his hand, maneuvering her chair slightly so she could hold it more tightly.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered to him, not sure if he could hear her this time any more than the last few times they’d ended up in this position. She would have laughed at the irony if she wasn’t sure her laugh would sound broken to her ears. How many times would they find themselves here? With him unconscious and her sitting at his bedside, worried?

This was all her fault, her family’s fault which made it HER fault.

She should have noticed something was wrong earlier. If she’d just…if she’d noticed they could have called in Eliza sooner, made it more of an emergency than a possible quarantine.

She knew, logically, there was no way to have known. Mon-El hadn’t shown any symptoms till their Monopoly game. He hadn’t shown any signs of being ill till he’d started coughing, unable to breathe…

She squeezed her eyes shut tight, not wanting to think about that moment, that fear and terror that raced through her when he wheezed and jerked before her eyes. She shook her head as though it would clear it from those thoughts. But they were still there, even more pronounced now that her eyes were closed.

Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes and focused on Mon-El’s face. It was peaceful so far, but she could tell from what she’d read in the Fortress that wouldn’t last long. The virus was meant to KILL people, sooner than later Mon-El would start to feel it and with such little known about Daxamite biology they wouldn’t be able to create any sort of sedative or pain reliever for him.

She should have made them before. She should have asked Eliza before all this to look at Mon-El and see what she could learn from his biology, to prepare. If she wanted him to be a hero, he was going to get hurt. He was going to get injured. 

The yellow-sun beds helped her, some other DEO equipment could scan her. But what about Mon-El? Would it help him too? Would the scanners work on him? She should have had them prepare, work on things that would help if he got hurt. But she hadn’t. She’d been so focused on trying to train him and nudge him to be a hero, be her partner, that she hadn’t thought about what would come after and during. 

…she’d been so caught up in trying to flirt with him that she hadn’t thought about anything bad.

He just…he made her happy, he joked with her and laughed with her and was always so eager to watch her favorite musicals and shows, to “learn about Earth” through them. When she was with him she could talk about Krypton or even Daxam, other planets and similar customs they had, and she didn’t feel alone or like a freak. She didn’t have to watch her strength or hold back. And it just…it made her happy to be around him, so much so that she didn’t think about being sad, or what could make her sad.

Hearing about the incident at the bar, knowing he could have died there, she’d just wanted to lay that out to him, to…to finally talk to him about how she felt. Whether he rejected her or not, she would deal with it, but she wanted them to be honest. She didn’t want to waste time.

And now she just kept thinking that was all she’d done. 

She’d flirted and teased him and all that time she could have just TALKED to him. If she asked him to be honest, she knew he would be. Instead she’d wasted time playing games and now they were here. She could feel it in her heart they were about to really touch on her concerns just before he’d collapsed, really talk…and even then it had been too late.

She wanted him to get better, to live. Not because she wanted to know what he would have said, but just because he deserved to live. No alien deserved to die like this. He had to get better, he just had to.

If Mon-El died because of her (family), she didn’t know what she’d do.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

When Kara heard the heart monitors spike just a second after she heard Mon-El’s heart rate change, she did her best to take a deep breath and force a reassuring smile on despite how badly she was hurting herself. Alex and Eliza had discovered CADMUS needed a specific isotope L-Corp manufactured to really distribute the virus to the city and she’d gone to Lena to ask her for help stopping her mother. Only for Lena to defend her mother, claim that Supergirl was just like her cousin and trying to turn Luthors into the villains, and sent her away. On top of all that, Winn had dropped the bombshell that, despite all the different ways the virus could be replicated and synthesized, there was no mention or hint of a cure in the information she’d given them.

Her parents had never planned a cure. 

They really had meant to wipe out everything non-Kryptonian. 

And while she understood it was meant to be used ON Krypton to defend her planet, the fact that it was on EARTH now and in the hands of her enemies made it difficult to not feel ashamed of being their daughter no matter what J’onn said.

“Hey…” Mon-El’s weak voice pulled her back to the present.

She did her best not to flinch at how truly weak it sounded. Because there was also a note of exhaustion and pain mixed in. “Hey.”

He hummed slightly as he looked at her, still managing to smile at her despite everything. “Did you learn a new power where you can duplicate yourself? Because I'm seeing two of you and it's really cool.”

“No,” she managed a laugh at that, shaking her head at how he still was able to do that even when she felt so bad. “No, sorry. No new powers. Just I think the double vision is all you.”

“Oh,” he nodded. “So _I_ have a new power?”

“Yeah.” Her voice trailed off at that, his attempt at lightening the mood falling short with his words. Just talking about powers reminded her how powerless SHE was right now to help him.

Mon-El sighed, seeming to realize the tone of the conversation had changed too. “Your Earth mother, Eliza, she thinks I'm dying.” Kara gave him a startled look. “I might not have your hearing, but mine's pretty good.”

“She's gonna find a cure,” she reassured him, squeezing the hand she had resumed holding the moment she’d sat down.

“It's ok,” he whispered. “I've, uh…” he groaned as he pushed himself to sit up, Kara rushing to help him when he ignored her telling him to rest. “I've cheated death more times than anyone should.”

She shook her head frantically, feeling tears in her eyes at how he was talking. Just like he had in CADMUS’s cells, about the destruction of his planet, about how he didn’t deserve to be alive. “It's NOT ok!” she pressed. “You shouldn't be dying. The only reason you are dying is because of MY family.”

“Eliza did her best…” he murmured.

She scoffed at that, always trying to reassure her he was ok, always trying to take the guilt off of her. “No,” she argued. “Not her. My birth father created Medusa. He's the reason you are in so much pain, and he's the reason that I can't do anything about it.”

Mon-El looked at her a long while, she could feel his eyes on her even when her own were downcast, unable to look at him, ashamed to look at the person her family’s legacy was harming so badly. He reached out and touched her cheek, brushing a strand of hair behind her ears before cupping her face.

She looked up at him sharply for that. He wasn’t pulling his hand away, he wasn’t looking away from her either.

“You know,” he murmured as he just kept gazing into her eyes. “You look beautiful, even with the weight of all these worlds on your shoulder.”

“You don't have to make me feel better,” she whispered, shaking her head.

Mon-El gave her a gentle smile before…before leaning in, slowly, giving her the chance to pull back…when he pressed his lips to hers.

She inhaled softly as his mouth pushed against her own, just a little more pressure, just enough that she could still feel it even in his weakened state. She could FEEL it unlike how her kiss with James and every other human had been. She could press her lips back to his without fear of breaking his nose, she could push as hard as she wanted and not be afraid she’d hurt him. One of her hands came up to his cheek without her realizing, touching it just as lightly as he was her, shifting forward to return the kiss.

And when he pulled back, so slowly she could almost feel his reluctance, her eyes fluttered open quickly, needing to see his expression, needing to know what he felt and what he was thinking and WHY he had kissed her.

But she realized all too soon that none of that would come.

Because Mon-El was blinking rapidly, his breathing becoming more labored, and she could see him swaying just sitting up even as he wore a small smile.

“Yeah,” he breathed out, already falling back to the bed, on the verge of passing out, the exertion of sitting up, of talking, of doing anything too much for him.

But that didn’t stop her from hearing the last words he’d whispered before he fell unconscious once more. 

“Absolutely beautiful.”

Kara let out a breath at that, her hand coming up to touch her lips as she looked down at him in shock, her heart both racing and breaking at the same time.

Racing because….he’d kissed her. HE had KISSED her. He’d kissed HER. And that could mean something wonderful…

And breaking because…the monitors were reflecting the strain his moment awake had had on him, none of the signs were good, and without a cure…

She was terrified that would be the last time he’d wake up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we've got the kiss! :-D
> 
> Now we just have to wonder if Mon-El will still "forget" it or not ;-)


	23. Recovery

Kara hadn’t realized she was holding her breath till she released it at the sight of Mon-El’s eyes fluttering open. It had been…one of the more terrifying moments of her life, seeing him dying before her eyes, knowing it was her family’s fault. Eliza had done all she could to slow the virus down, to find some sort of cure for it, and finally found something. But during that time Supergirl had been needed to stop CADMUS from launching the virus into the air. 

For a split second she’d honestly thought that Lena Luthor had turned on them, had joined her mother. She had been standing beside the woman, helping her, clearly having given her an isotope she needed to see her plan through…only for it to backfire at the last second. Lena had swapped the particle and even called the authorities on her own mother to stop her. 

As relieved as she was that the other aliens of the city were safe, she had been terrified she’d come back to the DEO to find Mon-El had passed away. Only to land and have her mother inform her they’d found a cure and administered it, that Mon-El should be waking up soon. She’d practically flown to his room and hadn’t left his side, her gaze fixated on him, waiting for any sign that he was going to wake up. She hadn’t even noticed that Alex, Winn, and Eliza had joined her till her mother stepped past her to read one of the monitors beside Mon-El’s bed.

His eyes locked on her the second they were open and she felt her face break into a smile even at his first words. “Am I dead?” he asked. “Is this heaven?”

Eliza glanced at Kara, seeing tears in her daughter’s eyes as the girl shook her head, unable to talk, overwhelmed. She focused on Mon-El, offering him a chuckle. “No. We were able to reverse engineer a cure from a living sample of the virus.”

“And when my mother says "we," she really means "she,"” Alex added. “But Winn and I watched enthusiastically.”

“While this is good news, it gets even better,” Eliza beamed, looking at them all. “The Medusa virus was so easily weaponized I was able to turn it against a common enemy, J'onn's White Martian blood cells.”

They all turned to look behind them, where Eliza was gesturing, to see J’onn in his Green Martian glory entering the room.

“J'onn!” Kara rushed to hug him. “You look great!”

“I feel great,” he remarked, his voice deep and without the pain that had been present before. “Thank you, Eliza.”

Eliza stepped past her daughter and went to hug him as well. “My pleasure.”

Kara smiled as she watched J’onn being crowded by Alex and Winn and subtly made her way back to Mon-El as the Daxamite managed to sit up on the bed, clearly regaining his strength faster. “I'm so glad you're ok,” she murmured.

“Yeah.” He grinned at her. “Me, too. I don't know what you would have done without me.”

She rolled her eyes at the remark, the two of them chuckling slightly over it. But she felt her heart pounding in her chest at how he was joking around. She was thrilled, absolutely thrilled that he was going to recover, but there was something she needed to talk to him about. NOW. This entire thing had just taught her not to waste time or take anything for granted and she didn’t want to do that now. They’d saved the aliens, gotten J’onn back, and healed Mon-El, it was a good day, it was heading in a good direction and she wanted it to stay that way. 

“Are…are we gonna talk about what happened?”

“Yes!” Mon-El cheered, almost too quickly, sounding almost too eager. “Yes, I want to hear all about how you chased that missile down.”

“No,” Kara spoke slowly. “I mean, are we gonna talk about what happened between us while you were dying?”

“I…what?” He frowned. “What happened? What did I do?”

Kara just looked at him, crossing her arms. “You know what you did.”

“I really don’t.”

“Oh you really do.” She shot him a pointed look. “Your voice is flat.”

“What…what does that have to do with…”

“That’s how you sound when you’re lying.”

“What?” He let out a forced chuckle. “I’m not lying,” before quickly clearing his throat, actively changing the flat tone of his voice into one more confused. “I’m not lying.”

She just lifted an eyebrow at him and he knew he was caught.

He sighed, slumping where he sat, before lifting a hand to rub at his eyes and forehead.

Kara glanced behind him at her mother who was watching them keenly. Something must have read in her expression because Eliza nodded and began to subtly lead the others out of the room, giving them some privacy. She looked back at Mon-El and let out a sigh, moving to sit beside him.

“You kissed me,” she stated, laying it all out there.

He turned his head ot look at her. “You kissed me back.” But then he blinked. “You…you DID kiss me back right? I didn’t just hallucinate that part?”

“No,” she murmured, her voice growing soft, choosing to be honest with him as well. “You didn’t imagine that.”

He let out a long breath. “I thought it was a dream,” he remarked, more to himself than to her. “I…I remembered you leaning over me, so sad, your eyes so blue and just…shining like comets and I just…I wanted to make you smile.”

“And you thought kissing me was the best way to do that?”

“At that point, I was honestly thinking you’d only be that sad if it was really serious, if I was really going to die and I…”

He trailed off, making her frown. “And you…what?”

“I didn’t want to die never having kissed you,” he admitted, finally looking back at her. “I didn’t want to die not knowing what it was like and…and how it would make me feel.”

“How it would make YOU feel?” She shook her head, he wasn’t making a lot of sense, but then again if he HAD actually been so delirious he’d thought the kiss was a dream, she shouldn’t really expect anything he said to make sense 

Mon-El’s eyes drifted up to hers and he just felt…so many things he honestly wasn’t sure what they all were. He’d never felt so many emotions as the ones Kara brought up in him, the good and the bad, and he always felt like he had to fall back on the ones that he was familiar with, because they were safe. Right now everything in him was screaming at him to lie to her, to play it off, to make some remark and treat it like it wasn’t serious, like his feelings were just a passing infatuation. It’s what he would have done on Daxam, what he’d been encouraged and taught to do, never treat a relationship too seriously, never let himself feel more than just physical pleasure. Once the heart got involved it complicated things, made it difficult. 

He was so tempted to lie…but looking into her eyes…he couldn’t bring himself to do it. She was pleading with him, he could see it in her gaze, to be honest, to explain, to help her understand. And she would know if he was lying, it had been stupid to lie in the first place. He could remember a time, the trip just before Kara’s last to Daxam, she had accidently knocked something over, shattered it, and his mother had been about to rage about it. He’d lied and said it was his fault, he must have convinced her well enough because she left Kara alone. But Kara had confronted him about it, told him he shouldn’t take responsibility for things that weren’t his fault, he shouldn’t lie to his parents. She had even gone so far as to tell him he wasn’t a good liar. She’d said something about how his voice just sounded funny when he lied and one day someone would notice and he’d be in more trouble.

Not only would she know if he was lying now, but he really just didn’t want to lie to her. She really had put an awful lot of trust and faith in him, taking him into her custody, letting him into her home, he didn’t want to betray that.

“I…” He opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to think of the best way to explain what was going on in his head and in his heart. “I’ve known you most of your life,” he began. “I saw you grow up. The last time I saw you on Daxam, you were twelve.”

“I’m not twelve anymore,” she remarked, an almost hard tone in her voice.

“I know,” he rushed to get out. “Believe me I am…made more and more aware of that every day.”

Kara would have smirked a little at the faint pink that touched his cheeks as his eyes quickly glanced over her before racing back to her eyes. But the situation was far too serious for her to do that. 

“And…the more I’m…made aware,” he continued, carefully picking his words. “The more I’m…the more I think…” He let out a huff, being honest about feelings was far more difficult than he’d thought it would be. “I...like you...like you.”

Kara blinked at that, her heart racing so fast she honestly didn’t know how he hadn’t heard it. She could only stare at him as he looked down at his hands, her mind franticly trying to absorb his confession. He liked her. He liked her-liked her. He…he actually DID.

She wanted to smile and laugh and dance and reach out and hug him as tight as she could, tighter than a human would be able to handle and squeal like a teenager.

But he looked so nervous and…guilty for his confession.

“You like me-like me?” was the only thing that escaped her in a breathy response.

Mon-El nodded, his gaze still fixed on his hands. He couldn’t help but think he’d just made the biggest mistake of his life in telling her that, in admitting it. Now would come the part where Kara said she didn’t like him the same way, where she would ask him to please leave her loft and return to the DEO, where she’d…

…take his hand, apparently.

He blinked as he not only felt her place her hand on his, but saw her do it, felt her squeeze it.

“Mon-El…”

Her voice was soft and it made something twist inside him. She was just going to let him down kindly. Because Kara was a kind person. She was going to try and make it sound not that bad to not be liked by someone he had an interest in. She was going to calmly explain that she was his friend and just his friend. 

“Hey,” Kara called lightly, reaching out to touch his face, turning it to face her as she smiled at him. “Do you remember just before you collapsed? We were playing Monopoly?” Mon-El nodded, seeming more confused now than resigned. “Do you remember the last thing you asked me?”

His face scrunched as he struggled to think of anything but the fact that Kara still had a hand on his cheek. Her touch was so light and warm it made it hard for his thoughts to stay on anything but that fact. But he tried to think, because Kara wouldn’t change the topic like that for no reason. He remembered sitting there, something about being in jail…and Kara talking about Eliza and asking if he liked her-liked her…

He blinked. 

“Do you want me to like you-like you?”

“Yeah,” Kara nodded at that, smiling a little wider. “And yes…I do.”

“What?” His eyes snapped back to hers. 

She let out a small laugh. “Yes, Mon-El, I DO want you to like me-like me, because I like you-like you too.”

Mon-El stared at her a moment. “You’re…you’re being serious?”

“Very.” She nodded, unable to keep her smile back now. 

“So…so I like you and you like me.”

“Yep.”

Mon-El nodded slowly at that. “I don’t…I don’t know what to do now,” he admitted to her quietly. On the movies he’d seen, the next step after “epic love confession” always seemed to be “hop into bed” but he really doubted Kara would want that so soon. He…he honestly wasn’t sure HE wanted that quite so soon either. 

This was new territory for him. He’d never actually liked-liked someone before. He’d never WANTED to have a relationship with someone like he saw in the shows and movies Winn had recommended. And he’d never thought he’d feel that for a Kryptonian. He didn’t know whether to follow Earth courting customs or Kryptonian or both or neither because Daxamite ones were lacking to say the least. He just…he didn’t want to mess this up.

“Honestly,” Kara offered. “I don’t know either. I’ve never really gotten this far into a relationship before.”

“So there IS a relationship?”

Kara flushed at that, seeming to realize what she’d implied before she’d even really made sure HE wanted one too. Liking someone was one thing, heading into an actual relationship was another. “I’d like there to be.”

He smiled, nodding. “Me too.”

“Yeah?” she started to smile again, feeling like she’d smiled more in the last five minutes with him than she had the last five hours.

“Yeah.”

Kara looked at him, her thumb lightly stroking his cheek, just like he had her a short while ago. But unlike before, this time she was the one who leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Kara couldn’t stop smiling as she walked down the hall to her loft. Even with Mon-El being detained at the DEO, Eliza wanting to keep him overnight for observation just to make sure the cure had flushed out every last bit of the poison from his system, she was happy. He was alive, and that was all that mattered. She was sure she’d miss having him in the loft, she’d gotten so used to him being around that the thought of a night without hearing his small snores on her couch seemed odd to her. But knowing he was being cared for by Eliza, that he was going to get a clean bill of health and be back soon was enough.

She let out a small, giddy giggle as she thought about him, her hand coming up to touch her lips. She had kissed Mon-El, he had kissed her back, he hadn’t been dying at the time and…he’d told her he liked her-liked her. He felt the same way about her as she did him and that feeling was indescribable. She was really excited to see where this could lead them, where their relationship could go…

Which made her smile drop just a little at the thought. Despite what Alex had told her, her mind kept circling back to Winn and James and worrying about how they’d feel about all this. She wanted to believe they’d just be happy she was happy, but a part of her had seen enough movies to know there was always some sort of resentment, however small, that they weren’t the ones chosen. The last thing she wanted to do was make it awkward between her and James if he found out she was now dating Mon-El after having told him she didn’t have time for a relationship between figuring herself out and being Supergirl. And she didn’t want to make things strained between Mon-El and Winn, who both seemed to be forming a solid friendship of their own.

…maybe she should have spoken to Mon-El about that. He had seemed so happy and pleased that they were together now, he literally looked like he was about to blurt it out to the world…or at least to Winn. He seemed to talk to the man just as much as she talked to Alex and if Winn found out then James would and it would be a mess. 

She sighed, she didn’t like the idea of keeping what they had a secret but…maybe that would be for the best at the moment. She could work on talking Mon-El up to the others, make a show of spending more time with him, act a little closer to him…just get everyone else used to the idea of them together before they announced they actually WERE together. That could work, right?

She stopped short just outside her door. As lost as she was in her thoughts, she did NOT miss the fact that her superhearing was picking up the sounds of two voices inside her loft.

She squared her shoulders and shoved the door open, ready to be on the offense…when she saw it was Barry! …and a friend of his, but Barry was back!

“Barry!” she shouted in greeting. 

“Hey,” Barry chuckled.

“I knew it!” she cheered, thinking back to the odd wormholes that had been popping up around her the last few days. “I knew that was you. I knew it was you in that weird space portal thing!”

“I'm sorry,” Barry offered as she rushed forward to hug him, a sheepish grin on his face. “It took a couple of tries to get here. This is my friend, Cisco.”

“Well, friend is a loose term,” the man beside Barry remarked, stepping up to shake her hand. “We work together.”

“Hi,” Kara quickly shook his hand.

“Cisco,” he introduced.

“Hi.”

“I have to say it, this is a nice universe you got here.”

Kara smiled at that. “Thank you!”

“Ok.” Barry sighed, growing serious. “Do you remember last year, when I helped you out and you promised to do the same for me?”

Kara nodded, hesitating only a moment as she saw where this was going. Barry was calling in her debt and, honestly, it was not at the greatest time. There was so much to still sort out with Mon-El and they’d JUST started a relationship and a part of her really didn’t want to leave Earth right at that moment, leave him after he’d nearly died because of her family. 

…but Barry would not be there if it wasn’t something really serious. He wouldn’t have travelled across dimensions for her help if it wasn’t something he couldn’t handle himself.

So she took a breath and hoped that everything would still be alright when she got back.

“What are we up against?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I agonized over whether or not Mon-El should go with Kara. The possible plot I had in mind for how Mon-El could fit in with the crossover just worked best for another story. So we will see him in a crossover episode, just not in this one. Sorry if that disappointed anyone! I really was tossing up between him going or staying, and it really just fit better in a different story than this one.
> 
> But, on a lighter note and hopefully making up for that...Karamel is happening earlier than in the show! :-D I'm really excited to explore how this will affect the episodes between now and when it became canon in the show :-)
> 
> I feel like, in the show, Kara let the "amnesia" slide for a few reasons and one of them could be she really didn't know if he did remember or not, she didn't know him that well at that point to tell and she also needed time to sort out how the kiss made her feel. But this Kara, she's been around him in a setting where he likely HAD to lie at some point, on Daxam, and she's experienced it so she can call him out on lying. And this Kara already had most of her feelings sorted out before the kiss, she didn't need the extra time. She also didn't want to waste the time they had now that he was better :-)


	24. Return

Kara was buzzing with excitement as she stepped through the portal Cisco made for her and back into her loft, hurrying to her phone, about to call Alex and gush to her over what she’d done on the other Earth, when the door to her loft opened and Mon-El, who looked worse for the wear, entered. He stopped the second he spotted her standing there, and stared at her for a full minute, before shaking his head and rushing over to her, pulling her into his arms.

“Thank the gods you’re ok!” he muttered as he squeezed her tighter.

Kara instantly started to frown at the worried tone in his voice. “Of course I’m ok, what’s wrong?”

Mon-El quickly pulled away at that, giving her a look that was a cross between bewildered and somewhat angry. “What’s wrong? What’s wrong?! Kara you were missing for a week!” he told her. “We’ve been going crazy trying to find you, the DEO’s been up in arms about it and Alex was freaking out like mad. What happened? Where were you?”

Kara winced at that. “It’s been a week?”

She honestly didn’t know why that was surprising to her, or what she had expected. No, she did know what she expected. She’d thought, for some reason, that it would be like time travel movies where she would go off on adventures and return to her real time like…five minutes after she’d left or something. She’d failed to realize this wasn’t time travel but interdimensional travel. Barry’s friend Cisco didn’t have the power to go forward or back in time, as far as she knew, just hop between worlds. Which meant she would have appeared back here the same length of time it would have taken her to help the others deal with the Dominators.

“Kara, what happened?”

Kara sighed. “A while ago a superhero from another dimension ended up on Earth and he helped me out before he went back to his Earth. I promised him if he ever needed help that I’d be there for him also. He came to call in.”

Mon-El stared at her a moment. “You were in another dimension? For a week?”

She gave him a sheepish smile at how unbelievable that did sound. “Yes?”

Mon-El rubbed his forehead before shaking it and stepping past her to the phone.

“What are you doing?” Kara asked, a little…surprised they weren’t kissing. She’d been gone a week and she knew she really wanted to kiss him. She’d missed him while she’d been away and he had been one of the ones she was most looking forward to seeing again when she got back.

…he must be really angry with her.

…and she probably maybe deserved it for just disappearing for a week.

“Calling Alex,” Mon-El told her. “Unless you want the DEO to continue the manhunt for whichever alien was able to kidnap Supergirl.”

Kara bit her lip at that, that sounded really bad. She really should have thought this all through before she just up and left, but it had sounded so serious when Barry asked for help. He wouldn’t have just shown up if it wasn’t and, being there to see the threat, he’d been completely right to get her help in this matter. She truly had thought she’d pop out and back before anyone would really notice…and severely overestimated it all apparently.

She kept silent as Mon-El called up Alex and explained that she was back. She actually winced when Mon-El had to pull the phone away from his ear when Alex started screaming over it in her own anger. Superhearing probably made it ten times worse for it to be so close to Mon-El’s ears. 

“She’s really mad,” Kara remarked when Mon-El finally hung up.

“Off the charts mad,” Mon-El agreed, turning back to her. “You need to go to the DEO. Alex and J’onn are demanding you show up and explain yourself.”

Kara nearly turned to go…when she noticed Mon-El wasn’t following her. “You’re…you’re not coming too?”

He snorted at that. “Honestly, I’ve spent enough time there the last week.”

Kara frowned at that, he sounded upset about that fact. She wanted to ask what he meant by it. Because she doubted the DEO would have expected him to take her place as the city’s hero for the week. And he had a key to her loft so it wasn’t like he’d have had to stay there at night or anything. And if he was helping them search for her, he would only be there to report in. So what was he talking about? She really wanted to know but he turned and disappeared into the bathroom before she could ask.

She let out a deep sigh and turned to head out, she’d ask Alex if she knew what was going on with Mon-El.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

If Kara had thought lectures from Alex about being reckless or putting herself in danger as a child were bad, the way Alex had really let in on her now was ten times worse. Because Alex made very valid points, all of which she couldn’t defend or justify, all of which she could only apologize for and promise not to do again. 

Especially the one about how she couldn’t take ten seconds to call someone first and let them know what was going on before she disappeared. THAT one even she could admit was a grave mistake on her part. Sometimes she got so caught up in being a hero that she didn’t think about what it meant for Kara Danvers.

Kara Danvers who had a sister that had nearly lost her mind thinking the absolute worst had happened to her. Who had a father-figure that had been convinced CADMUS or some other enemy had gotten ahold of her and was tormenting her. Who had friends that had to cover for her at work by saying she’d gotten her appendix removed and wouldn’t be in for a week. Who had a best friend that had worn himself ragged hacking into every anti-alien website and focal group to try and see if they were talking about her. Who had a boyfriend that had been…well, she didn’t know, Mon-El had been the one person Alex hadn’t spoken about at length in how her disappearance had affected him.

“I’m sorry, Alex,” Kara repeated for the tenth time. “I’m sorry! I will never disappear to another dimension without a call to you or the DEO first.”

Alex shot her a hard look at that. “You had better not or so help me I will find a way to follow you and all your little friends will get an earful from me.”

Kara wanted to laugh at that image…but it was a terrifying one to picture. Alex could be very scary when she wanted to be. “I’m sorry I caused so many problems here. Was National City ok?”

“It’s still standing isn’t it?”

“You know what I meant.”

Alex sighed. “We had a few rogue alien cases, but the DEO handled it.”

“You didn’t get Mon-El involved did you?” Kara had to ask. “I really am trying not to push him to be a hero, like you said, but if the DEO…”

“We didn’t bring him in to take your place.”

The way Alex said that made Kara frown. She could hear it, Alex was telling her that the DEO HAD brought Mon-El there, but…not to help? What other reason could there be to…

She froze as her heart stopped in her chest, the reason becoming clear. “You thought he was a suspect?!”

Alex let out a deep breath at that. “He had the means and opportunity to do anything to you, Kara. And he’s a Daxamite, Krypton’s known enemies.”

“He’s also my boyfriend!” Kara snapped…before she realized what she’d just let slip. “I mean…my friend, my…my boy who is a friend…friend.”

Alex gave her a look that clearly told her she didn’t believe her, but also one that wasn’t surprised. “You finally made a move?”

Kara groaned and dropped her head onto the table across from Alex in the DEO’s conference room where she’d been explaining everything that happened with Barry. “He made the first one, I made the second.”

“Yeah, gonna need more clarification on that.”

“He kissed me when he was sick with the Medusa virus.” Kara picked her head up to face her sister. “And then when he was cured he tried to play it off like he couldn’t remember it, but I called him on it and we admitted we like-liked each other.”

“Like-liked?” Alex snorted at that, an amused smile playing at her lips.

Kara wanted to smile back, pleased Alex wasn’t directing anger at her any longer, but something caught up to her. “He…didn’t say anything about it?”

That would have been something Alex would have made sure to confront her about, had Mon-El actually told them they were dating now. Thinking on it now, Alex would have been one of the first to defend Mon-El’s innocence about all this if he’d told her he was her boyfriend now.

Alex shook her head. “We had to bring him in for questioning. Held him three days before we were able to clear him and his alibi.”

Well that explained his remark about being at the DEO long enough. He’d been kept there like a prisoner…because of her. She felt sick to her stomach over it. And there was a guilt growing twice as fast when she thought on the fact that, during all that time, he hadn’t said a word about them dating. Why? Why wouldn’t he have told Alex at least?

“I need to go,” Kara murmured as she quickly stood up. “I need to apologize to Mon-El again for all this.”

Alex nodded and gestured her on. “Don’t think this lets you off the hook though,” she warned her sister.

Kara paused as she reached the door, her shoulders sagging in a clear indication that she’d very much been hoping she was off the hook.

Alex’s laughter was the last thing she heard before she sped out of the room.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

For a split second, Kara actually debated whether she should knock on her own door before entering her loft, able to hear Mon-El inside. Before she shook herself out of it and stepped in to see him stirring something on a pot in the stove. It smelled like soup, chicken noodle if she had to guess.

“I was going to take you out to lunch,” Kara remarked softly, he didn’t even flinch. “Celebrate being back.”

“Not hungry enough,” was Mon-El’s response, his tone not flat but…weary. “Just making a snack.”

Kara nodded, biting her lip as she moved to sit at the stool of her kitchen island. “I’m sorry,” she repeated, but he didn’t turn around. “Alex told me about you being a suspect. I should have thought ahead, told someone, and because I didn’t you were treated like a criminal…again.”

Mon-El shrugged like he didn’t care, but she knew he did. “We’re on Earth,” he remarked. “Aliens will always be the prime suspect.”

“That’s not true…”

“Oh, yeah, right. Supergirl will never be the prime suspect, but every other alien will.”

“Mon-El…”

He let out a sigh and sagged, reaching up to rub the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry,” he apologized, his words being harsher than deserved. “I’m just…I haven’t gotten much sleep lately and the stress of you being gone and not knowing what happened is just getting to me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You said that already.”

“You didn’t forgive me though.”

“Sorry isn’t always good enough, Kara,” he told her, though his voice was gentle and not angry now. 

Kara floundered at that, not sure what to say, and ended up blurting out. “Why didn’t you tell Alex we were dating?”

Mon-El stiffened. “Is that what it’s called on Earth? Dating?”

“A relationship, yes.”

He shrugged again. “I wasn’t sure we were.”

“Well, there’s lots of terms for it. Courting, dating, getting to know each other, having a relationship…”

“No, I meant…I wasn’t sure if we were still dating.”

Kara froze at that, her heart stopping once more as her eyes widened at what he’d said, what he’d thought. “Why…why would you think that?”

After how far they had both come, after how hard they’d worked to just admit to each other they liked each other? She couldn’t understand why he’d think the relationship was over that soon? Was that…was that the typical length of a relationship on Daxam? A few hours?

“Well you said you liked me and then kissed me and then ran away for a week.” He was still speaking to the soup, his back to her. “I honestly didn’t know what to think. Winn said that when someone starts pulling the silent treatment and avoiding you, it’s because they regret something. Or at least in movies. I didn’t want to embarrass myself more than I had with you by telling him my longest relationship was an hour, so I asked him to explain a movie scenario. You were embarrassed to have said that to me, caught up in the moment or just relieved I was ok, but you regretted it so you ran away to avoid me for a week…”

“Not everything is about you, Mon-El.”

He finally turned to look at her for that remark. “How was I supposed to know that? From my point of view, we’d just kissed and then you disappeared. When evidence didn’t show up that you’d been kidnapped, the only other explanation was you went away willingly. I thought it was something I’d done, that…that I did something too Daxamite for you to handle and you left.”

Kara eyed him oddly for that. A part of her wanted to be angry, wanted to feel like he was just making all of it about him and his feelings and not considering how she’d had to go to save another world…but the way he was talking? It struck something insider her that killed her irritation dead. He was speaking like this was all something he was expecting from her.

He was talking like he really expected her to leave him, like he was waiting for her to realize something about him and just…drop him. 

Her heart broke at the thought that something had happened to him in his past that made THIS scenario a reality to him. Something had to have happened constantly and repeatedly for him to truly think that he wasn’t someone worth sticking around for.

“I really like you, Mon-El,” she said instead. “I wouldn’t just disappear because of you or something you did.”

“You wouldn’t be the first,” he mumbled, turning back to the soup that was now basically mush-noodles and burnt chicken. Still he drained some of the broth and put the rest in a bowl to eat. 

Her heart shattered at the confirmation of her fears about his past. So she got up and moved over to him, winding her arms around his middle to press herself against his back, her chin resting just by his shoulder blade. 

“I’m Kryptonian,” she reminded him. “I’m stubborn.”

He gave a small snort at that, but one she could hear amusement in. “True.”

She smiled at that. “I’m not about to give up on anyone. I haven’t given up on hoping some of my enemies can be redeemed, I would never give up on someone I care about either.”

“So…you DO care about me?”

She squeezed him more, closing her eyes. “I do.”

“And next time you’ll at least let me or Alex or the DEO know when you’re going to disappearing again?” he asked. “Because that would make me feel like you care.”

She nodded against his back. “I don’t plan on leaving you guys any time soon. And if I do, I’ll let you know. Promise.’

She held her breath when she felt Mon-El place one of his hands on hers around him, hoping he wasn’t about to push her arms away…but he just squeezed it. “Thank you.”

“In fact, I’ll do you one better,” she offered. “I’ll take someone with me next time too.”

Mon-El nodded at that but there was a niggling thought in his mind that told him, even if she promised to take someone with her…it wouldn’t be him. It would be Alex or J’onn or someone better trained to handle any sort of danger than he was. She would take someone who would be useful to her, which wasn’t him. 

…at least not now. 

It was something he’d been thinking about for a while, little things that just kept adding up to him going the course Kara had hoped for him, pushing him to be a superhero. But…with recent events he was just…hesitant to actually start down that path. Kara made it look easy, she made it look appealing, she made it look like something rewarding.

But he’d experienced nothing but pain and hurt for it. Try to get a job, be berated for having the wrong one. Try to stop someone with a gun, get shot. Try to do a good deed, end up imprisoned and shot at. Try to go after a bad guy, end up poisoned and dying and imprisoned. Try to help the DEO find Supergirl, get imprisoned on the suspicion of her disappearance. It was like the gods were trying ot tell him something, maybe the superhero thing wasn’t for him. 

But then he’d look at Kara, at the hope and belief in him in her comet-blue eyes and he’d think…maybe the gods were wrong. Maybe this was just a challenge to push through to become a hero. And if he was one…he could be out there with her and keep not just that former-little girl from Krypton safe, but his girlfriend. (Not a girl who was his friend, though he liked to think Kara was that as well, but a real girlfriend girlfriend. …and why was Earth so set to use the same word twice?)

He didn’t want to make a decision while he was angry or upset or relieved though. He’d learned just how compromised his decisions were on Daxam when they were influenced by drugs and emotions, he…he wanted to really be sure about this. He hadn’t had much time to think the last week, not with his fear for Kara so prevalent. So he would take some time, really think about it, and…let Kara know when he was ready what his choice would be.

“Soup?” he offered, holding up the bowl to the side for her to see it.

She grimaced at the sight of the mush. “I’m fine.”

He shrugged and slurped some more down, smiling a little at Kara’s cringing expression. The soup tasted fine to him.

“Are we ok?” Kara asked him after a moment.

He offered her a small smile. “Yeah, we're ok."

"And we're still dating?"

"If you want us to."

"I do!" Kara insisted. "I really do."

"Good."

Kara almost hated herself when she saw him starting to smile. "I just..."

"What?" His smile instantly fell, dreading her tone.

"Would it be alright with you if we...kept our relationship between just us?"

He tilted his head. "I wasn't aware Kryptonians were interested in multiple partner pairings..."

"No!" she said quickly, her face flushing. "No, not...not that sort of relationship. I meant, if we could keep the fact we're in a relationship just between the two of us."

"...a secret?" he asked after her word sunk in. "You don't want anyone to know we're dating."

"Not like that," she rushed to defend. "I am not ashamed of you Mon-El, and I would never regret being in a relationship with you. It's just..." she took a breath, trying to find the words. "I'm Supergirl and I have enemies and if they found out about you, they'd hurt you just to hurt me."

"I'm pretty indestructible myself," he reminded her.

"And what if CADMUS spreads word about your lead allergy?" she pointed out. "I don't want to put you in danger by being with me. I...I also don't want the others to feel like they can comment on our relationship either," she added. "I know them. The second they find out it'll be remarks and suggestions and teasing and...this is...this is the first real relationship I've ever had. I don't want it to be faced with all that so soon."

Mon-El nodded slowly, absorbing her words. "You just want me all to yourself."

Kara laughed at that, thankful for his habit of trying to make situations lighter. "I sort of do," she could admit. "I just want to enjoy the two of us for a while before everyone else starts sticking their noses in."

Mon-El nodded slowly after a moment. "I understand. For now, just us."

"...Alex may already know," Kara felt she had to tell him. "She's super scary when she's angry and it just came out."

Mon-El had to laugh at that. "For a reporter always seeking the truth, you are a very sneaky and lying person."

"It's not lying!" she defended lightly. "It's just...not revealing the truth till a later date. I don't think anyone will ask about us, so it's not like we're lying to them..."

"I'll agree to your terms on one condition...”

“What?” Kara asked quickly, really wanting to make this work, to not only help their relationship find stability and time to grow, but to make amends with this and make up for how badly she’d made him feel about himself without realizing. “Anything!”

Mon-El chuckled and tapped his cheek with a smirk.

Kara took a moment to realize what he was asking before she rolled her eyes and smiled. She stepped closer and, instead of kissing his cheek as requested, draped her arms around his neck and gave him a soft kiss on the lips, sealing her promise into it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little original chapter to bridge the gap :-) I really wanted to explore the aftermath of Kara disappearing for so long if she didn't tell the others were she'd gone. I feel like her just up and going to another dimension after just kissing Mon-El would get to him, and the DEO would also be suspicious since he's Daxamite and had access to Kara at practically any time. They might not know when she disappeared after he was released from the DEO and just assume :-(


	25. Missing Person

Kara sighed as she made her way through the DEO, needing to give her report on her latest action.

“Jewel thieves?” Alex joined her.

“Nabbed,” Kara replied with a flat tone, sounding almost bored and a little annoyed. “I nabbed them. But, of course, Guardian had to show up and pick up some of the stragglers. That guy is really starting to get on my nerves.”

“But he did help,” Alex pointed out, keeping her voice carefully neutral so as not to sound like she was defending the man even if said man was James. “That's something.”

“Yeah, barely,” Kara scoffed. “I was the one who had to dodge the surface-to-air missiles. All he did was slap cuffs on wrists.”

“Ok, what's bothering you?” Alex reached out to stop her sister, turning her to face her. “And it's not Guardian.”

“Who says anything's bothering me?”

Alex pointed at her forehead. “Crinkle.”

Kara groaned and rubbed at her brow where she could actually feel the tell-tale crinkle forming. “Crinkle. I'm gonna get Botox for that. If you can figure out a way to get a needle in my skin, I mean.”

“Kara.”

Kara sighed again. “I don't know, I just…I'm in a funk. I mean, stopping jewel thieves? And that bank robbery last week, it's just…it's easy.”

“So?”

“So lately, I feel like I'm protecting jewels and money more than I'm protecting people.”

Alex did her best to keep a smile from her face. “You can quit the act now.”

Kara pouted and crossed her arms. “Not acting anything.”

Alex mirrored her sister’s posture but raised her eyebrows. “You’re going a bit over the top about how much free time you have now that all the crime you’re dealing with are non-alien.”

Kara glanced around. “Am I?” she asked, lowering her voice.

Alex gave a light chuckle. “Just a little bit.”

Kara huffed but felt herself smile. It was true, with the alien crime at a pause for the moment, all that was left was the human crime which she could handle easily…which meant more free time between work and Supergirling. Which meant more time she could spend with Mon-El. 

She’d spoken to Alex after she’d worked things out with Mon-El about how they were going to keep the relationship on the DL for the moment, just till they could settle in and get used to it themselves. Alex had been supportive, but remarked that keeping secrets never worked out well.

“Why don’t you go home and hang out with your boyfriend,” Alex teased. 

Kara blushed a light pink at that reminder that she had a boyfriend now. “I um…he’s kind of been gone most nights.”

Alex frowned. “Doing what?”

“His new job.”

“Which is…”

Kara could only shrug. “I didn’t ask. I’m…not sure I want to know, given how I reacted last time.”

Alex had to nod at that, Kara hadn’t had the best reaction to Mon-El’s brief stint as a bounty hunter. She doubted Mon-El would take any job that was similar to that, but still, Mon-El hadn’t exactly offered to tell Kara what his job was either which did make her wonder if it was a job Kara wouldn’t appreciate either.

“He seems happy though,” Kara offered, almost like she was trying to reassure herself of just that, that it wasn’t some sort of job she’d be disappointed in him holding. “No reports of alien fights or anything.”

“True,” Alex agreed. 

“Do you wanna come over?” Kara asked instead. “We could catch up on The Night Of…”

“I can't,” Alex cut in briefly, a small flush on her own cheeks. “I have plans. Unless you need me to cancel though.”

“No, no!” Kara had to laugh, just knowing what those “plans” were and who with. “I need you to go be with your girlfriend.”

Alex beamed at that. “I have a girlfriend.”

“Yeah,” Kara began to nudge her. “Go! Go!”

Alex laughed a little and turned to hurry off, Kara watching her go with a small smile before she shook her head and moved to head back home herself.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

To be fair, it had been quite late at night when the robbery had taken place, so Kara hadn’t really expected to come back to the loft and find Mon-El lying on the couch, fast asleep with a book resting on his chest though looking like it was about to fall off him to the floor any moment. 

He usually got home later than this which made her frown for a moment as she realized…maybe this had been a day off for him. She’d been out running around the streets on the lookout for crime mostly because she’d thought he was going to be out later. She hadn’t wanted to pry about his work schedule, not wanting to sound or come across like she was going to show up at his work during his on hours or use the information to work out where he was. But maybe she should have asked him when his days off were. 

She’d been happy the last week, the two of them together, hanging out in their spare time, although that time was limited now that he was often out at night and she worked during the day. They made it work though, often eating and watching TV together, with her commenting on his questions about Earth customs in the shows. If she’d known he’d was off, she might have taken the night off too, or at least not spent so much time just flying over the city till a random robbery happened. She could have spent that time with him.

She stepped closer, just smiling as she observed him sleeping…till she noticed that he wasn’t quite as peaceful as she’d thought he was. She stepped closer, able to see his face scrunched up in what looked like pain, his head twitching ever so slightly this way and that. The more she focused, the more she could hear him making small noises, pained noises. His grip on the one end of the book was so tight she was sure he’d snapped that part of it in half it if wasn’t paper, his knuckles were white.

“Mon-El?” she called gently, making her way over to him and crouching down beside him. “Hey, Mon-El…”

“No,” Mon-El muttered in sleep, his head jerking away from her direction, his body starting to shake now. “No…what…what happen…”

Kara’s frown deepened as he started to react much more to the dream, the nightmare, he was having. His body was starting to jerk now, he was breaking out into a sweat. “Mon-El, wake up…” She reached out to try and shake him awake.

But her touch just seemed to unsettle him more. “No! No…let go!”

She was starting to get worried now, his breathing was too shaky, too shallow, too fast. She had to wake him up, the nightmare was clearly terrifying him! “Mon-El, wake up!” She firmly grabbed his shoulders and shook him. “It’s a dream. Wake up!”

Her voice must have finally gotten through to him because he jerked awake, sitting up quickly, gasping for breath, just shaking all over as the book fell to the floor, not that either of them noticed. 

“Hey, Mon-El…” She reached out tentatively to touch his shoulder.

He flinched back, his eyes snapping shut as he struggled to breathe enough in to calm. She withdrew her hand quickly, sitting there with her gaze locked on his, watching his expression for any sign that he was ok.

“Mon-El?”

Mon-El took a deep breath and ran a shaking hand through his hair before he turned to her. “Kara?”

She nodded “It’s me,” she reassured him, hesitating a moment before reaching out to touch his forearm. “You ok?”

HE nodded. “Fine.”

She gave him a look. “Talk to me.”

He swallowed hard, closing his eyes once more as he tried to keep himself from snapping at her to leave him alone, that he’d be ok. He’d made a promise to her to TALK to her now, whenever he was upset or needed to vent or anything. He’d promised her. And while on Daxam he’d have had no problem breaking a promise to anyone, this was Earth, it had more weight there, especially to a Kryptonian. And…and he really did want to talk. Because this wasn’t the first time he’d had this nightmare, he’d just been better at keeping quiet about it till then. For all her superhearing, Kara was a ridiculously deep sleeper.

“It’s nothing,” he tried to reassure her. “It’s just…memories.”

Kara was silent a moment. “Of Daxam?” She honestly wasn’t sure what it was. It could be that or the Medusa virus or when he’d been captured by CADMUS, he’d been through so much since landing on Earth.

“Yeah,” he muttered, scratching at the side of his face. “I just…it was like I was back there, watching it all happen again. Only I’m always standing there watching myself as it all happens. Watching how just…useless I was.”

Kara didn’t know what to say to that. She wanted to tell him he wasn’t useless, but she knew it wouldn’t help, he’d never believe her about that. Because she hadn’t been there, she hadn’t seen or experienced what HE had. She’d gotten off her planet as it was exploding, but he’d been on one where it was being bombarded by debris, being attacked from the outside where they could see it coming. She hadn’t lived his life, and he wouldn’t listen to her about that experience.

“I’m sorry,” was all she could think to say.

“Not your fault,” he sighed, taking another deep breath. “Sorry if I woke you…”

“I just got in,” she countered lightly, before she frowned. “Has this…has this been going on long?” She had suspicions that he’d been having nightmares, but she hadn’t wanted to bring it up, to make him feel like he was being cornered or forced to talk about it. 

He swallowed and looked away, his silence was enough.

“You should have told me,” she lifted her hand from his arm to his cheek. “I promised you I’d be here for you, Mon-El. And I am. Even before this,” she gestured between them, “Became something more, I was always here.”

“I didn’t want to bring up bad memories,” he repeated the words he’d used so long ago about why he hadn’t spoken to her sooner. “I thought I could handle them, and I can.” He looked at her. “This isn’t the first time I’ve ever had a nightmare, Kara. Daxam wasn’t exactly a joy to live on, even for the prince. I’m no stranger to bad dreams.”

“But this is the first time you’re having to deal with them without drugs or drinking to help you,” she pointed out. 

“Yeah,” he whispered, understanding that point. “I guess.”

“What else helps your people?” she asked. “I know how humans cope with trauma like this, I know how I dealt with it. But I’m not a Daxamite and I don’t want to force techniques on you that won’t help you in the end. What else did your people do to feel better that didn’t involve drinking or drugs?”

“Sex.”

“Or sex.” Kara flushed deeply at that. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to ever have sex, it was just a little too early in their relationship for that step. They’d only JUST kissed two weeks ago and she’d been gone for a week of that. 

He shrugged.

Kara felt her heart clench in her chest at that. His people really had relied on drugs to an excess, hadn’t they? Anything to make them feel good so they wouldn’t have to feel bad. She started to think about what made her feel better when she was sad, before she realized she needed to think about what she’d seen made HIM feel better when his thoughts drifted to bad places.

“No sex,” she spoke, gaining his attention. “But I’m not opposed to cuddling.”

Physical contact. He always seemed to feel a little better after she touched him, even the smallest touch could make him smile and provide comfort. Maybe cuddling or snuggling or something would help him. She couldn’t give him sex, but she could at least offer him some way to get through the night.

The couch couldn’t be that comfortable, and maybe it was just a reminder of how he wasn’t in his own bed anymore, in any bed, and why. 

“Come on.” She reached out and took his hand and helped him up, leading him to her bedroom. He’d already dressed for the night so she sat him down at the edge of her bed and sped off to her bathroom, quickly changing into her favorite flannel pajamas before rejoining him. She was blushing heavily, she knew, not used to having any man in her bed, but she wouldn’t lie and say she wasn’t curious how it would feel to fall asleep with his arms around her.

“Kara?”

“No sex,” she repeated, moving over to him and lightly pushing him to lie down, moving to get into the bed on his other side. “But you’re my boyfriend now,” she told him. “That earns you some priviledges.”

He gave her a look. “Like sharing your bed?”

“Yeah.”

Mon-El smiled after a moment, slowly moving closer to her and winding his arms around her waist, pulling her closer so her back was pressed to his front. “Is this ok?”

Kara smiled. “Perfect.”

Mon-El let out a relieved breath behind her and gave her one last gentle squeeze. “Thank you, Kara.”

Kara just turned her head to give him a gentle peck on the lips before they both settled into sleep. If she stayed awake to make sure he could fall back asleep after the shock he’d had, well, he’d never know.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Kara sighed as she entered M’gann’s bar and made her way to the main counter, having had the worst day she could remember having at CatCo since she first met Snapper. What sort of man turned down a mother’s begging to find her lost daughter? It was like he didn’t care about the danger the girl could be in, had gotten MAD at her for promising the mother that they’d help try to find her daughter. He was refusing to run the article, because it was too “cliché” for his tastes.

She’d become a reporter to HELP people as Kara Danvers, and now she was being prohibited from doing that and it was bothering her so much. So she pulled her other “reporterly resources” and contacted Maggie to ask about the missing person’s report for the girl. Maybe there was something in the report that would get Snapper to change his mind. Meeting in the bar was a safe bet, as it was a usual hangout for Maggie as well and no one would think anything of it.

“Excuse me?” she called to the person she could see crouched behind the bar, just one bartender as it was midday. “Oh, hi. Could I Could I just please have a club soda?”

To her complete surprise, Mon-El popped up from behind it. “Hey!”

“Hi!” Kara blinked, starting to smile at him, seeing him smiling back at her, looking better than he had last night. He’d fallen asleep almost instantly and hadn’t had another nightmare the rest of the night which was clearly reflected in how energetic he appeared to be.

“Hi,” he repeated, moving to lean in a moment before stopping with a small frown on his face. “Are we secret here too?”

Kara glanced around, not seeing any of her friends and shook her head, leaning in herself to press a kiss to his lips. “No one really knows us here…” she began, before she realized he really was on the other side of the bar. “Or at least no one really knows me…do you work here now? Is THIS your new job?”

Mon-El tensed a little at her question. “I do,” he answered. “Yeah, you know after the, um gosh, after the incident, they were a little short-staffed, so I took a job.” He glanced at her face, his eyes seeming to search hers for the answer to a question he hadn’t asked before he hurried to add. “And you know, I like alcohol. I've been known to like alcohol. And if I can’t drink it anymore…” He gave her a teasing but also somewhat serious look, letting her know he really was trying to cut back as she’d asked him to. “I thought I could at least make drinks for other people. So I just really feel like this is gonna be a great job for me.”

“I think it will be too.”

He blinked. “Really?”

She smiled, understanding what he had been searching her face for. Judgment. He was worried about her feelings on his new job, whether she’d approve. Which should have been obvious given how he’d not told her he worked in the bar till she’d literally stumbled upon him. This wasn’t a bad job, not at all. Bartenders were mixologists, creative people, who had to be engaging and social and good listeners, who made things that tasted good, but also had to keep an eye on others to make sure they weren’t getting too drunk. It fit Mon-El in a way she really should have thought of sooner. This was also a place where she knew he felt safe and secure, where he felt even the slightest bit more at home being surrounded by other aliens, feeling less alone. It had started to become a place where she felt less alone as well. As wonderful as the Danvers were and as great as having Mon-El around was, there was something about being an alien and surrounded by other aliens that made her feel happy.

“Yeah,” she told him, reaching across the bar to place a hand on his as it rested on the bar. “I’m proud of you for finding a job that you like.”

He smiled at that and looked down a moment, turning his hand over to squeeze hers before his gaze flickered back to her. “Thanks,” he murmured, before his mind seemed to catch up to the fact that he was supposed to be working right now. “Oh, right, one club soda, coming up.”

Kara laughed at that, but smiled as she watched him get to work. “I’m actually really glad you’re here,” she offered. “I had the worst day at CatCo and seeing you made it better.”

Mon-El glanced at her, a concerned look in his eyes. “You wanna tell me what's going on? Huh? Come on, talk to me. I am a bartender now.”

“I've just been feeling betwixt and between of late,” she remarked.

“Betwixt and between?”

“Yes. But, a story came across my desk today. A missing girl. I'm gonna find her.”

Mon-El nodded slowly at that. “Can I offer you some unsolicited advice?”

“Go for it.”

“If you go looking for trouble, trouble ye shall find.”

She had to laugh at that. “Thank you for the completely useless advice.”

He held his hands up in surrender before he slid her club soda over to her. “I never said it’d be good advice.”

Kara took one sip of the drink before she grimaced. “That's not club soda.”

“Yeah, what exactly is club soda? Not this?”

“Not even close.”

Mon-El winced. “I probably shouldn’t have fallen asleep reading the recipe guides last night then?”

“No.”

Still, despite the awful taste in her mouth, Kara couldn’t help but laugh at the situation, much cheered up from when she’d first entered. She glanced back when she heard Maggie enter the bar and watched her head to a side booth. “I need to talk to Maggie about something,” she remarked.

Mon-El nodded and watched her get up. “Kara,” he called out, making her pause and look back. “For as much trouble as it might end up being…I’m sure you’ll find her.”

Kara smiled at that. “Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this is so late in being posted. My work schedule has been long hours at awkward times during the day which made it hard to get anything written :-( But I hope you liked this chapter :-)


	26. Investigation

Kara was fixated on the information she was reading on her phone as she stepped into the elevator of CatCo to head to the main floor. She’d been researching the missing persons’ reports that Maggie had given her and discovered there were far more people disappearing than just the one girl…and all of them had gotten bloodwork done before hand at the same place. She’d just been looking up the company and their call for test subjects for a new medical breakthrough they were trying to make.

She was so focused on it she actually murmured a hello to Mon-El before it finally caught up to her that he was there at CatCo instead of at his job. 

“Wait,” she spun around, moving out of the elevator that had just emptied to stare at him. “What are you doing here?”

“I heard that, when dating, it’s customary to engage in meals together,” he said easily, having looked around to make sure no humans were close enough to hear him. “So I took the day off and came to surprise you for lunch. As “friends.””

Kara had to fight a smile at his words, at how he was using air quotes for the last word, both trying to tell her it was not just as friends but also trying to make it so others would think they were just friends if they overheard…and failing miserably at it. She was trying to remain serious and responsible despite how adorable he was to try to do that for her. “It's your second day.”

“Yeah, didn't wanna overdo it,” Mon-El shrugged. “So lunch?”

She wanted to say yes, she hadn’t really eaten much all day and she was starving, but there was a young girl out there that was missing and her mother was frantic and she just…she felt like she couldn’t even think about eating till she’d gotten more of a lead on this story.

“No, actually, I'm working.”

Mon-El nodded. “I'll come with you then.” She hesitated. “Come on.” He leaned in to take her hand in his gently, leaning against the side of the elevator doors to keep them open. “It'll be fun. You wanna find that missing girl, right?”

Kara blinked. “You remembered?”

“I remember when you told me that you were hoping for a puffle for your name day,” he teased, making her blush. 

A Puffle was an animal that lived on both Daxam and Krypton, like a…tribble, was as best he could call it, thinking about the Star Trek show Winn and he had watched in order to call out how inaccurate some episodes were. It was an animal that was just a big ball of fur. It was adorable, even he could admit that. Kara had been on Daxam once and he’d offered to show her the Garata Dragons. It had sent her off on a tangent about the animals on Krypton and one she wanted as a pet. He didn’t think she realized that Puffles existed on Daxam too. It had been amusing to see her get so excited about such a simple animal.

“Hey,” he continued. “Two heads are always better than one, right? Except on the planet Barvex, because they have two-headed cannibals…”

Kara eyed him. “You really want to come?” She didn’t want to push too much but…he was talking like a hero, or like someone on the road to becoming one. He wanted to go with her to investigate a human disappearance instead of getting food by himself or doing something else. That had to mean something.

Mon-El just shrugged with a small smile.

“Yeah, ok,” she agreed, a small smile growing on her face too.

“Good,” Mon-El stepped into the elevator with her. “So where are we going?”

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Kara found it endearing how, the second she and Mon-El sat down in the waiting room of the facility the others had gotten blood tested in, Mon-El reached out and picked up the first magazine he could get his hands on and actually started to read it with a furrowed brow of concentration. Mon-El really was trying to assimilate to Earth as best he could. She’d come home a few times to see him engrossed in the books she had at her loft, or watching a show with Winn while the man tried to explain why the mating rituals of some sort of Star Trek alien was a big no-go on Earth, or jamming out to music that she honestly wasn’t sure was real music…unless you asked Alex who probably lent him that punk rock CD in the first place.

Even now, he could have sat there and cracked jokes, talked to her more about the bar, anything, and he picked up a magazine and started to read. She wasn’t insulted or offended that he was more focused on that then talking to her, she found it cute how he was making such an effort to learn about Earth. And, besides, she had to fill out some paperwork for the both of them in order to be allowed in for “examination” and bloodwork by the main doctors.

She felt herself smile when he laughed. “Question,” he began as he turned to her, holding up a child’s magazine. “Do you think I'm more of a Goofus or more of a Gallant?”

“Goofus,” she answered promptly, laughing herself when he pouted. “With a little gallant thrown in.”

He smiled at that just as an older man with peppered hair stepped into the room in a white lab coat and glasses. “Well, well, well, well, well. Hello!”

The two of them popped up instantly, bright smiles on their faces. “Hi!” Kara chirped.

“Hello,” Mon-El spoke.

The doctor eyed them. “They told me two strapping young millennials had dropped by, and here you are.”

Mon-El chuckled at that. “Yes, we, uh, we work out a lot. Well, well I do. Kara is just naturally strapping.”

“Strapping?” Kara whisper-hissed to him.

“Is that an insult?” he whispered back.

“Not exactly a compliment for women,” she remarked.

“Is he not supposed to know we’re dating too?” he asked her just as quietly. “I didn’t want to compliment you too much.”

Kara cleared her throat as she faced the doctor who had clearly heard everything they’d just said. “Yeah, we just wanted to, uh, get a better idea of what you do here before jumping in. We looked at your website, it just said you can make some quick cash.”

“Yeah, and we're trying to save up for a trip to Paris city,” Mon-El tried to help.

“It's just Paris,” Kara told him, in that same whisper-hiss.

“Paris.”

“Well, we're running a clinical trial on a new-to-market supplement,” the doctor explained. “We're just looking to examine the effect of the supplement on base metabolic rates. So, all we need to do is some blood work, and we'll have you in and out, and off to Paris city in no time.”

“Sure!” Mon-El offered.

But Kara cut in with a shake of her head. “Um, well, actually, we can't give blood. That is…that's against our religion.”

“Yes!” Mon-El jumped to agree, just now remembering the superskin and how breaking a needle was a sure way to have the man discover they were aliens. “Yes, we are very religious. Very into our gods.”

“God,” Kara whispered.

It was an instant reaction to correct himself with, “One God,” and continue with “We are madly monotheistic,” to cover his mistake.

But the second those words were out of his mouth his smile fell as an uncomfortable sensation grew in his stomach and his heart clenched painfully. The words tasted bitter and wrong and he instantly regretted them. He understood, he did, that Earth was a largely monotheistic planet, that saying “gods” was a dead giveaway that something was wrong. But to have to say it? To have that come out of his mouth and have to make it believable?

It hurt. It hurt far more than he ever thought it would.

Daxam was polytheistic, they had many gods they believed in. Over the course of his life he hadn’t put much stock in them, hadn’t put much faith in any of them. After Daxam was destroyed, that feeling grew firmer, the gods clearly didn’t care for anyone if they could allow such a fate to befall their planet. But then Kara had come along, and she’d told him he’d survived for a reason, a reason that went beyond him just being the prince, that maybe there was still a plan for him, something he would do in the future that was the reason he survived. 

Since then he’d just…he’d been thinking about his gods more, that maybe they HAD saved him for a reason. And the more he thought about that, thought about them, the more he realized…they were one of the few things he could still hold onto from his home. He had no Daxamite belongings save his clothing when he’d arrived. He didn’t have the same foods or drinks or chemicals, not that he’d use the last two as he’d made a promise to Kara. But he had…nothing. He couldn’t even speak his native language because no one would understand it. 

He still had his gods though, he still had them in his heart. He could still pray to them and think about them, he could still believe in them. So long as he believed, they were real, and if they were real, then they existed, they were STILL there despite the planet being gone. And that was a comfort to him, to know that even if he was the last Daxamite, his gods lived on through him.

To have those words, that “one god” remark slip past him…it unsettled him. It was like that was the first time he was truly realizing just HOW monotheistic Earth was. Krypton just had Rao, it would be easy for Kara to pretend the god she spoke of to humans was the same god a majority of them worshiped. But for him? 

Was he going to have to give up his gods just to blend in on Earth?

He…he honestly didn’t think he could do that, no matter what Kara said about never letting anyone else know he was an alien. 

They were the last thing he had of his home and he…he didn’t want to forsake them. They’d become more important to him now than they had ever been on Daxam. He didn’t want to give them up, even around other humans. He didn’t want to have to hide them from others, he didn’t want to pretend he didn’t believe in them, he didn’t want to have to lose that part of him just to play human.

“Well!” the doctor clapped suddenly, jarring Mon-El from his thoughts in time to see Kara give him a concerned look, clearly having caught his instant frown. “You both look young and healthy enough. Let's give it the old college try, shall we? Follow me.”

Kara took Mon-El’s hand as they went to follow the doctor out of the room and through the door he’d come from. “You ok?”

Mon-El nodded, squeezing her hand. “Something to talk about later.”

“Mon-El…”

“Mike,” he corrected, his voice sounding off to her, almost like he was resigned and sad about that single word. “I’m Mike.”

Kara nodded, not sure what to say, instead squeezing his hand back with the silent promise that they WOULD be talking about this later.

“How did you hear about our study?” the doctor asked, seeming to lead them into a warehouse room of sorts. “We have a recruiter, but she didn't tell me to expect anyone today.”

“Well, actually, a friend of mine told us about it,” Kara began, taking a breath and focusing on the matter at hand, trying to push her concern at how quiet Mon-El had gotten to the side. “It's weird, I haven't heard from her since she came here.”

“You, stand here.” Kara moved where the man placed her. “And you stand here.” He moved Mon-El as well, the two of them now standing before an arched shape hidden by a tarp.

“Well, maybe you remember her. Izzy Williams?”

“Yeah, she did come through here,” the man said easily, yanking the tarp down to reveal a…very not-human arch shaped metal with a control panel on the side of it.

“What is that?” Mon-El frowned at it.

“You said you wanted to travel,” the doctor remarked, pushing a button and causing a swirling purple vortex to open up within the arch.

A moment later, both Kara and Mon-El were grabbed from behind, turning to see two aliens had snuck up behind them. Kara instantly reacted, punching and kicking the alien into a wall, shocking Mon-El into action himself as he punched the alien holding him. 

The doctor seemed startled by their show of strength and quickly dashed into the portal, escaping them.

“Go back to the DEO!” Kara shouted at Mon-El, rushing towards the portal herself, tearing off her Kara Danvers’ outfit to reveal her supersuit beneath.

“I just…” Mon-El began, catching her clothing as she threw it at him.

Kara whirled to face him. “Tell Alex what happened and make sure a strike team follows me.”

“Kara…”

“I'm going in there!”

“We don't know what's on the other side,” Mon-El tried to argue with her. 

Literally ANYTHING could be there. Kara could be jumping straight into a black hole or the middle of space and find herself suffocating. She could be stepping into a room full of that Kryptonite she’d explained she was weak against. She could be rushing into a place full of soldiers with alien weapons that could attack her…but she didn’t seem to be considering ANY of that. He knew that he was selfish, that much was true about Daxamites, but part of that stemmed from a deep rooted sense of self-preservation, something Kara seemed to be lacking…

Which worried him. Because this sort of reckless behavior, it was starting to seem to him as being less about Kara having her invulnerable powers and more about…a genuine lack of concern for her own wellbeing. 

…maybe HE wasn’t the only one who felt like he shouldn’t have survived his planet’s destruction.

But it appeared that would have to be a conversation for later too because Kara was already rushing for the portal, shouting, “Izzy's on the other side and that's all that matters!” before she dove through it.

“Kara!” Mon-El snapped, looking around for a single moment before huffing and tossing her clothing to the ground, rushing in after her. 

She had made sure he didn’t die with CADMUS, he was going to make sure she was safe too.

And it was a good thing he had, because he’d stepped out of the portal in time to see Kara crying out in pain as she tried to punch an aggressive alien, clutching her hand to her chest as another alien rushed at her. He glared at it and sped after it, noting that his superspeed was lacking there, but he was still fast enough to tackle it to the ground before it could reach Kara. He pulled his hand back and punched it as hard as he could, already prepared for the sting in his knuckles from the impact. If his superspeed wasn’t working, it stood to reason his superstrength wasn’t either. But he’d had his fair share of bar brawls and other drunken fights to be able to at least throw a normal-strengthed punch at someone. Kara, it seemed, had been relying on her superstrength when she’d punched the other alien, put too much force and not enough tact into it.

“What're you doing here?” Kara cried out when he stood up off the alien.

“I thought you might need my help,” he panted, shaking out his hand, his gaze drifting to her own hand with a frown when he saw the red on her knuckles. “You're bleeding.”

Kara sighed as Mon-El moved over to her, gingerly lifting her hand to look at the damage. “That is a red sun,” she told him, nodding to the side where the red sun was glowing in the sky.

“Like on Krypton and Daxam.”

“And we get our powers from the radiation of a yellow sun, so that means…”

“No powers,” Mon-El finished for her, flinching with her when he touched one of the cuts on her hand. “We need to get out of here.” He turned to try and tug her back towards the portal, knowing they’d need much more help with this mission…only for the purple glow to flicker out and disappear. “Well, now who's gonna help us?” He hurried over to the control panel at the side, tapping anything he could to try and spark it to life again. “We have to get it to work. Nobody knows we're here…”

“That's why I told you to get my sister,” Kara reminded him with a sigh.

“And if I had, that alien would have gotten the jump on you and you could be dead,” Mon-El tossed back, glancing at her. “We are both to blame here.”

“How am I to blame for this?” she scoffed.

“If we had gotten the DEO involved or called someone in first instead of rushing through, we could have investigated this planet and we would have known it had a red sun. Hell, we might even know where we are and how to deal with the natives here. And you call me reckless,” he muttered that last part.

Kara crossed her arms in a huff…but couldn’t say he was wrong. She was starting to realize that now. She HAD rushed in there and been attacked for it. If he hadn’t come in when he did, that alien could have hurt her more, she would be no use to Izzy if she was unconscious or killed. 

“We need to get back to Earth…” Mon-El continued.

But Kara shook her head at that. “Aliens brought those people to this planet, and we're gonna find out why and save them.”

“Ok,” Mon-El snorted. “Let's say we do find them. The portal is closed. Even if we’re not trying to get back to Earth, we still need to be able to OPEN the portal.”

“We'll figure something out.”

Mon-El pinched the bridge of his nose. “Didn’t you just promise me that you’d try and be more careful? Think of a plan or something before doing anything?”

Kara pursed her lips and looked away. “I DO have a plan.”

“And what’s that?”

“Make it up as I go?” 

Mon-El shook his head at that, opening his mouth likely to chastise her, so she was quite relieved when something flew past them, making them duck down on instinct. The last thing she wanted was for him to start talking to her like she was an impatient child, she did NOT want him to start seeing her like she was a little girl again.

“What was that?” she asked, grateful to change the topic.

“Sounds like a short-range shuttle,” Mon-El remarked as he eyed it flying by. “That's a troop transport…but where is it going?”

“It's probably headed there.” Kara pointed to a castle-like structure in the distance.

Mon-El took one look at her face and slumped his shoulders. “We’re going after it, aren’t we?”

“Yes.”

“Kara, we don't have our powers anymore,” he tried to reason with her.

“And?”

“Grife,” he muttered under his breath as Kara just started heading in that direction. 

“Being a hero means being brave and facing down odds even when they don’t look like they’re in your favor. It means doing the right thing even when everything is against you. Someone took those people, if we have even a chance to free them, we need to take it.”

“Is this one of your attempts to get me to be a hero?” he had to ask.

“No,” she said, and she sounded honest. “I’m telling you why I have to do this. Supergirl is a hero on Earth, if I don’t at least try, then I don’t deserve that title.”

Mon-El sighed deeply at that, but fell quiet as he listened to her words. This was another reason why he was iffy about the hero thing. You couldn’t turn it off, you couldn’t say no or pick and choose what battles you fought. If you were a hero, you had to fight ALL of them, even when you knew you would lose. Kara was so focused on being Supergirl, being a hero even without the powers that made her one…he was worried about her. 

Maybe that was why they saw this situation so differently. Kara was so used to her powers, to the confidence it brought her, she was so used to HAVING them, that even now, even with the red sun above her…she still acted like she had them. He honestly wondered if it was a conscious thought in her mind that she was powerless here. Would she face down an enemy and forget she had no powers? They were such a part of her now, having been on Earth for over a decade, that she probably wasn’t used to NOT having them.

But he wasn’t. He’d only been there a short while, he wasn’t used to them or having them, so being there on that planet…he was all too aware they were gone. He was aware of just how vulnerable the two of them were. On Earth he was more vulnerable than she was with his lead allergy. Now though he felt like he was the only one actually aware of how deadly this could go.

“You know how on Earth they rate everything?” he began after a few minutes of silence, trying to change the subject and keep his thoughts from venturing down too dark a path. “One-star. This is a one-star.”

Kara seemed grateful for the change. “I used to love going to other planets with my parents. They'd take me to the pretty ones, though. Not like this. We'd spend solstices on Sedenach.”

“Oh, yeah,” he smiled at the memory of that planet. “The Bismuth mountains?”

“Yeah. Yeah, they'd grow right underneath our feet. Yeah. It's all those crystal staircases raising us up.”

“Took a girl there once…and I shouldn’t have said that.” He winced at how that’d slipped out. “Winn was very clear that people shouldn’t talk about past dates with other people on a date…”

Kara gave him an understanding look and laughed a little. “You really consider THIS a date?”

“I’m with you, aren’t I?” He smiled at her. “We’re alone, together, at a new destination. All we need is some food and this would be a date.”

“Well at least I know your expectations are low,” Kara remarked playfully. “That way when I plan our next one and we end up on the couch with some pizza you won’t be disappointed…”

“Kara?” Mon-El called and Kara looked over to see she’d stepped a few paces ahead of him, turning to see he had stopped walking. “My leg is stuck.” He gestured at the metal casing around his foot.

Kara frowned and hurried over. “What is this?” She struggled to try and pry it off his leg. “What…”

They both flinched when a bullet flew past them, the noise of its discharge echoing from a hill behind them. They turned to see an alien standing atop it with a weapon trained on them, causing them to both stand with their arms up in surrender.

“Yeah, pretty sure pizza and your couch would be a five-star date compared to this,” Mon-El remarked. “This planet sucks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did anyone else notice Mon-El's face after he said they were "madly monotheistic"? I didn't notice it at first, but he looked a little upset to say something like that. He went from smiling to looking really uncomfortable and almost hurt. I wanted to explore that more here for just a moment. He came from a planet of polytheists, and after losing everything, maybe his faith was one of the few things he still had...and now to have to claim he was monotheistic even for a ruse, I feel like it upset him to be reminded of his religion and how it was different than Kara's, different than Earth, and likely one more thing he'd have to give up or hide just to "fit in" with the humans :-(
> 
> We'll have some heavy conversations to come between Kara and Mon-El in upcoming chapters. And...an Alex and Mon-El BrOtp moment too before this episode is over ;-)


	27. Rescue Attempts

Mon-El and Kara both glanced down at the food that had been placed in front of them by the alien who had taken them hostage. If hostage was the right word. He’d freed them and brought them to a small cave, hadn’t made a move to hurt them either but they weren’t sure what to make of him. The food…while it would have completed their “date” as Mon-El had deemed it, they were both sure would ruin it entirely.

“It's Thanagarian snarebeast,” Mon-El whispered to Kara, nodding his head at the reptilian alien slurping away at his food across from them. “And we're the next course.”

“Jo Gunraf does not eat bipeds,” the alien sneered at the thought.

Mon-El seemed shocked by that. “So you speak English?”

“Oh, yes. Jo dissected a human once.”

“Of course he did.” Mon-El grimaced.

“Learned your tongue. Hideous pink thing.”

“Eh, Jo…Jo, is it?” Kara stood, slowing her motions when the alien snarled at her in warning. “We promise, we are not here to hurt you. We just…we want to help this girl.” She quickly pulled the missing person flyer from her cape and handed it to Jo.

He nodded. “They brought her through portal. They took her to the Red Fortress where they sell carbon forms like you. Sell them like animals.”

Kara let out a disturbed breath. “They've been kidnapping those people and selling them as slaves?”

“Slaving is a big business on Maaldoria.”

Mon-El stood quickly at that. “Wait, this is Maaldoria?”

Kara frowned at that. “You know where we are?”

Mon-El nodded. “The locals call it Slavers' Moon. My...my parents used to buy their slaves here.”

Kara tensed at that. “I forgot they had slavery on Daxam.”

She didn’t sound accusing or disgusted with him, more saddened by the fact of it existing at all. “You know there were a lot of things I didn't agree with on my planet.”

“Yeah,” Kara had to nod. “I’m learning that.”

A lot of her childhood memories were making more sense now that she looked at them with an adult eye and with the information Mon-El let slip. He’d been sad, the first time they’d met, because he wanted to make changes to his planet but couldn’t. And another time when she’d danced with him at a party, he’d been slightly tipsy, now that she knew what he was like drunk.

“We have to leave,” Mon-El continued.

“No.”

“We HAVE to.”

“No, we have to find the people we came here for.”

Even Jo was agreeing with Mon-El. “No finding girl. Fortress bad. Many weapons. No way out. No way in.”

Kara hesitated, glancing at Mon-El. “There IS one way.”

He frowned, until she lifted her hands just as they had when Jo fired at them, in surrender. “No.”

“Mon-El…”

“No, Kara. If we go in there without our powers, they’ll take us too.”

“That’s the point.”

“Kara.” He reached out and took her hand. “I’ve seen what happens to slaves, what they do to them here.”

“Then you know why we need to go in there and get them out.”

“Yes, I understand they have to be freed, no one deserves to be a slave, but that doctor man? He WILL recognize Supergirl." He gestured to Kara's glyph, that man had been on Earth long enough to set up a base of operations, there was NO way he hadn't heard about Supergirl. "They won’t just make YOU a slave, they’ll do much worse.”

Kara inhaled deeply at that, inwardly chastising herself for the direction her thoughts had been going. She had assumed, for just a second, that he was more concerned with himself, with not being caught or sold as a slave. But…he was actually thinking about HER. He wasn’t saying they shouldn’t go, wasn’t saying they shouldn’t try to save the others. He was saying they had to leave, get more help, because she was going to have a giant target on her back and that doctor would not let up a chance to take her and make her suffer.

“It’s a risk I HAVE to take, Mon-El,” she told him gently. “I understand it’s dangerous, but it’s something I need to do. We’re here, we can’t get the portal to work anyway. If we can just get the others out of there, even if it's just to give them a chance to scatter and hide…”

“IF we can get them out of there,” Mon-El reminded her. “There’s no guarantee we’ll be able to do it.”

“We have to at least TRY.”

“Kara…”

“Please, Mon-El,” she asked. “We’re on a planet with a red sun, here YOU are stronger than me.” He could make her leave if he wanted to. He could grab her arm and tug her away and she was honestly not sure if she’d be strong enough to pull away if he really put force behind it. He had the power here but she was asking him to use it to HELP her. “It’s like you said, not every act of heroism has to be big, or even the result of super powers. Sometimes it’s just the average person taking a stand.”

“You’re going to take one no matter what I say, aren’t you?” He sighed as she nodded. And he knew he was done for. He would NEVER force her to do something, never harm her or grab her or anything like that. But she would be determined to go in there, alone if she had to, and he just couldn't do that. He couldn't walk away while she went off on her own without anyone to watch her back. Which meant he HAD to go too. “Fine. Fine, we’ll go in there and we’ll try to get them out. And whether we do or don’t, I am SO saying I told you so when this is over.”

“Deal!”

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Mon-El sighed, standing tensely beside Kara as they were locked into a cell. Well at least the guards hadn’t killed them on sight when they surrendered. Though he was starting to get really tired of being locked in cell after cell every time he made some sort of attempt at heroism. 

“At least we got them right where we want them,” he muttered sarcastically to Kara as the doctor and the guards left the room. He honestly didn’t know what sort of plan they could possibly come up with while locked in a cell and without their powers. At least they appeared to have found all the humans that had been taken for there was a mass of them locked in the cell as well.

“Izzy?” Kara called, causing him to turn around, spotting a girl that did look quite a bit like the one in the missing person picture. “Are you Izzy Williams?”

“Supergirl!” the girl gasped. “You…you know who I am?”

“Your mother is looking for you.”

“You know my mother?”

“Uh, a friend of mine is a reporter and your mother persuaded her to find out what happened to you. And she told me, that's why I'm here.”

“You can save us!” the girl exclaimed. “You can just knock down the walls!”

Another man that had been taken stepped up, the excitement filling the cell now that they all seemed to realize Supergirl WAS in the cell with them. “You're gonna get us all home!”

Mon-El could feel her disappointment even before he saw Kara’s face fall at their words. THIS was another reason he wobbled between wanting to be a hero and wanting to stay out of it all. The disappointment when you failed to help or save people. He’d gotten enough of that in his life, living under his parents’ thumbs, being a constant disappointment to them. He’d even gotten a taste or two of it with Kara, when she’d try her best not to show her disappointment and disapproval of things he did. He didn’t want or need any more of it. He just wanted to have a life he could live where HE was the only one who could judge whether he was a disappointment or not.

He knew if he tried to be a hero, he was likely to disappoint a whole bunch of people many, many times before he did anything even close to nearly being right. He wasn’t sure he could handle that on top of everything else, on top of learning about Earth and adapting and trying to blend in enough to have stability, on top of trying not to think of just how much he really WAS a disappointment to his people as he hadn't been able to save any of them.

“I can't,” Kara spoke, pulling his attention back to the danger at hand. “I don't have my powers on this planet. But I will help you. All of you. I promise.”

“Supergirl,” a voice called behind them as the doors to the cell opened and a woman in a red dress with vine-like tattoos entered. “In my cage again.”

“Roulette?” Kara gaped at the woman, seeming quite startled to see her.

“We have got to stop meeting like this. If this isn't deja vu...”

“Why are you here?”

“Yeah,” Mon-El spoke up, moving to stand beside Kara, not wanting her to face down anyone alone when he could, hopefully, help divert the negative attention. But that wouldn’t help him if he didn’t know what he was up against either. “Wait, who is this?”

Both women ignored him as Roulette spoke. “I'm here because of you. You dismantled my club. I had nowhere else to go. So imagine my excitement when one of my fighters told me about Slavers' Moon. I jumped at the opportunity to help expand its market.”

“You are treating this like…like you're selling coffee!” Kara cried, disgusted. “You are selling _people_!”

Roulette shrugged. “I've taken human trafficking to the next level. These are prime specimens that can survive a lifetime of labor. They're good stock. And they'll sell for top dollar.”

“It's blood money.”

“Blood diamonds, actually,” the woman remarked, lifting a wrist to stare at the diamonds strung around them. “This planet's lousy with them. They're like dirt to these Maaldorians.”

Kara glanced at Mon-El when she felt him tense beside her, only to frown as he stepped back and looked away, turning his back slightly as though to try and blend into the crowd at something he’d seen. She looked back, following where he’d been staring beforehand to see…a Dominator had entered the room. 

“Oh, man, I hate these guys,” she muttered, trying not to look back at Mon-El once more, almost able to feel how distressed he was at its appearance, trying her best to keep its gaze on her instead of noticing him.

It said something to Roulette that had her grinning as she turned back to them. “Good news, everybody. You've all been sold.”

Kara glared at the woman as she left the room with the Dominator before she turned to the crowd of humans now starting to talk to each other, clearly freaking out at what had been said. “Ok, listen,” she called out. “I know that you're all scared. But we're going to find a way out of here. Don't worry.” She gave them as reassuring a look as she could before she reached out and grabbed Mon-El’s arm, pulling him as close to the edge of their cell as she could, quietly speaking to him. “What was that?”

“What was what?”

“You completely shut down before.”

“I did not.”

“So you weren’t trying to hide behind me when that alien showed up?”

“I wasn’t hiding,” Mon-El defended. “I just…didn’t want it to see me.”

“Why not?”

“Um, because it’s dangerous?” Mon-El offered as though it should be obvious. “Dominators are…”

“How do YOU know it’s called a Dominator?” Kara cut in with a frown, surprised.

“My parents would work with them sometimes,” Mon-El told her quietly. “I think they managed to work out some sort of alliance with them at one point or another.”

“You know about them? About the Dominators?” Kara had to ask, he nodded. “Do you know how to defeat them?”

“They’re sensitive to high frequencies,” Mon-El stated, giving her a confused look, not sure why she was asking him that when they had nothing around that could even create what would harm them. “Create a high enough pitched one and it causes them severe pain…why?”

Kara closed her eyes tightly, that would have been something helpful to know when she’d gone to help Barry. She hadn’t had a clue that Mon-El had known who the Dominators were or how to stop them. She hadn't even told him that she HAD faced Dominator's with the others, just glossed over it as a random alien. He hadn't exactly been thrilled to hear her adventure anyway, not with the repercussions her actions had had for him on this Earth, he hadn't asked. But she SHOULD have asked him and the others before she went with Barry. If she’d just done what Alex berated her for and taken ten seconds to let them know where she was going first, if she'd let Barry explain what they were up against, Mon-El probably would have told her about them and their weaknesses and she wouldn’t have been out for days on end or let the situation get as bad as it did on the other Earth.

“Nothing,” Kara murmured, needing to focus on the present. “You didn’t want it to see you because it would recognize you as the prince, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” Mon-El took a breath. “With what happened to Daxam, I don’t want to risk any of their attention. I’m not sure what relations my parents left off with them, whether allies or enemies and I’d rather not find out now.”

“Right,” Kara agreed. “Then we need to focus on getting out of here and fast.”

“Yeah, about that. How?” Mon-El asked. “We're stuck in the most dangerous planet in the galaxy and we don't have our powers.”

“We can do it.”

“HOW are you so optimistic right now?”

“Because they need us to be,” she told him, glancing back at the humans.

Mon-El rubbed his forehead. “I KNEW we should have gone back to Earth and gotten more help, or gotten the DEO involved BEFORE either of us went through that portal. This is exactly what I’ve been telling you Kara, if you go looking for trouble, you will always find it. And you do. You're like the winner at it.”

“That's what heroes do,” she defended. “They fight.”

“Sure, they fight, but that’s the problem with all you heroes,” he pointed out. “You go off half-cocked and jump into a fight and you end up getting overwhelmed or hurt. You want to be a hero, be Supergirl, fine, but you need to be SMART about it. It's a dangerous universe out there, YOU don’t have to be the one who saves everyone every time.”

“I have to at least TRY,” she argued. “Our worlds may have been destroyed, but we were spared for a reason. We ended up on this planet, that gives us these powers, for a reason. And if being on Earth has taught me anything, it’s how to be strong. It’s how to keep fighting whether you're stuck on another world, whether or not you have your powers, you never give in.”

Mon-El opened his mouth to respond when the door to the cell opened once more and the doctor entered along with Roulette. “It's time to go, Earthlings!” he called cheerfully. But Kara merely moved to stand in front of him and the two guards attending him, blocking their path to the humans. “Move.”

“No,” Kara stated, opening her arms wide.

Mon-El wanted to sag at the action. Hadn’t they JUST been talking about this? About being smart? Kara did NOT have her powers. Standing in front of them, blocking the way, when the guards had WEAPONS? It wouldn’t help anyone if she was shot or hurt. The humans would be even more frightened to see someone like Supergirl be taken down. It would have been smarter to let the guards pass and THEN attack them from behind, not put herself directly in their line of sight when no one was behind them to attack.

“Hey!” Mon-El jolted forward as the two guards stepped up and thrust their weapons at Kara, making her cry out in pain as she was jolted with electricity of some sort. But he was shoved back, sent flying to the ground really, his head slamming against the floor.

“Move!” the doctor demanded as Mon-El got his bearings back, his vision blurring slightly as his head began to pound.

“No!” Kara tried to keep strong, but the guards attacked her more, not letting up till she had fallen to the ground.

Mon-El grit his teeth and lunged for the nearest guard, attacking the being as best he could while it was distracted, trying to avoid its weapon. His move seemed to startle the other humans into action as they dove forward as well in groups to tackle the other guard. Together they were able to get the guards subdued and take their weapons from them, leaving the doctor and Roulette unprotected.

Kara gasped as Izzy appeared before her, reaching out to help her up. “You didn't give up, so neither will we.”

“Thank you,” Kara murmured to the girl, looking over her shoulder to the panting Mon-El and giving him a nod of thanks too before she turned to see the others had circled Roulette and the doctor. “Let's get them in the cell.”

Mon-El moved to help shove the two forward, being sure to add a mocking, “And you can stand right there,” to the doctor as he activated the cell’s protections, locking them in.

“Well, now what?” Izzy asked.

“Now we get the hell out of here,” Kara stated, turning to lead the way to the door, Mon-El rushing to help her pry it open. “Go, go!” she called to the others as they dashed out into the hall.

“Hey,” Mon-El reached out to stop one of the humans still carrying one of the guards’ weapons. “Give me that. Give me that. Go, go.” He hurried along with the humans, using the weapon when he needed to to stop a guard or another soldier attacking them.

“Through here!” Kara shouted, finding the door that would lead out of the prison section of the base. “Through here. Go, go, go!”

Mon-El moved to the side, guarding a hall just as another guard appeared. He fired his weapon at the guard, but it ducked out the way, firing back at him and sending him to the ground once more. He winced and groaned as he sat back up, seeing the guard advancing, its gun trained on Kara…who didn’t seem to notice the approaching danger at all, too focused on ushering the humans through the doorway.

There was one brief moment as he laid there, where his mind flashed to everything Kara and even Alex had said to him about being a hero, about standing up and fighting even when the odds were against you, even when you were powerless. 

And none of it meant anything to him. 

If he was being honest, those words were empty, they were contrary to everything he’d learned about what it meant to be a hero. He had tried, he’d tried to do the right thing, to help when he could…and all it did was land him in a cell or have him injured or even dying. Help, nearly die for it. Being a hero was overrated as far as that advice went. He'd suffered enough abuse from his parents to not want to have to deal with being injured every other day trying to protect a species he really didn't care about, a species that wasn't his own, a species he had almost no connection to.

So it wasn’t the idea of being a hero, of saving the day, of a need to protect those vulnerable humans that drove him to stand up and put himself in the path of the advancing guard, to hold his hands out like Kara had and block their way, to become a shield between the humans and the threat of the guard.

No, it wasn’t the idea of being a hero that did it.

It was Kara. It was that once-little girl from Krypton, that woman he cared for, that now-vulnerable Supergirl who didn’t even seem to care about the danger she was in, who hadn’t noticed, who likely wasn’t even remembering how truly vulnerable she was right now. She was still standing there, helping the humans escape, not even caring or noticing anything else.

But HE had. 

And HE could stand in the way, give her time, keep HER safe.

THAT was what made him stand up and put himself in danger. 

And that was something, he felt in his bones, was what would make him stand up and fight each and every time to come.

He would stand up for Kara, to keep her safe, if it was the last thing he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like Kara put too much emphasis in the show about being a hero and how it meant needing to protect everyone else. Not all heroes start off like that, not all heroes care about every single person around them, that was just how KARA felt. And even then, I do think Mon-El was right in how she does her heroics a little for the attention and praise of the people, she liked being adored and applauded for her work just as much as she liked doing good.
> 
> But Mon-El isn't her, and he won't have the same reasons for being a hero, he won't have the same drive or even the same objective as Kara, because they're different people. They've led different lives. Kara had a loving home on Krypton, and ended up on Earth where nothing could hurt her, so getting injured every once in a while is nothing to her. But Mon-El, we've seen, didn't have that loving space and was likely hurt, both physically and other, repeatedly, he's not going to want to experience that ever again. I think that blends in with his "selfishness" and very strong sense of Self-Preservation, he's SMART because he needs to know how to get himself out of danger and avoid injury, that's how he grew up, needing to know what to say and how to say it and when to avoid his parents in order to be safe. He'll look at a situation where the guards are approaching and think, "get behind them, attack when they're distracted" even if it means letting them closer to humans, whereas Kara only sees it as "danger approaching, block the way, keep them away from humans." Kara relies on brute strength, but Mon-El isn't used to that strength so he relies on his observations and thinking his way out when he's allowed to do that.
> 
> Kara has also lived among humans and cares about them, Mon-El JUST lost all his people and hasn't had that bond with humans. He's going to have a different outlook and reason to be a hero.
> 
> Which we'll see explored in the next chapter ;-)


	28. Daring Escapes

Mon-El’s hands slowly lowered when a Dominator reached out and lowered the guard’s weapon. “Not him,” he could hear the alien speak, familiar with its language through the dealings his parents had had with the species. “He is not to be harmed.”

He wasn’t sure whether to be thankful or disgusted that the alliance his parents held with the creatures seemed to still be holding out even after so long, long enough for the Dominator to bow to him.

He shook his head and turned to hurry Kara out of the room. For the Dominator had only said HE was not to be harmed, not Kara…and he wasn’t going to risk her. Luckily by the time he got to her the last of the humans had passed through the gate, he knew she’d never budge if anyone was still left.

“Go!” He pushed her on. “Go!” They raced around a corner and came almost face to face with Alex as she led a team of DEO agents though the base. “Hey, we know her!”

Kara quickly ran to her sister, pulling her into a tight hug. “You found us?”

“Always,” Alex answered, turning to lead the way out. “We gotta hurry up. Winn's waiting for us.”

“Wait. You brought Winn to space?”

“He must be thrilled,” Mon-El remarked, rushing beside them, thinking about all the movies Winn had suggested he watch, many of which featured space.

Alex didn’t have time to comment as she hurried them out of the base and towards where the portal was, the group getting close enough to see Winn fist pumping and pointing at an alien lying on the ground.

“Yeah!” Winn was shouting. “You're the Red Shirt!”

“Winn!” Kara called, trying to get his attention.

“Supergirl!” he cheered, spotting them, and then pointing at the fallen alien once more. “Look, I'm a badass!”

“Start the car!” Mon-El yelled, thinking about the bank heist movies he and Winn had watched just the other day. It was Winn’s way of showing him what behavior was NOT acceptable on Earth. “Start the car!” Winn hurried to the command post and got the portal activated just as they reached it, all of them urging the humans on and through it. “Go, go, go, go, go. In the portal.”

They whirled around when they heard a crunching noise to see Jo approaching them. “Jo help carbon forms. Carbon forms get Jo off planet forever?”

“Yes!” Kara agreed, gesturing to the portal, eager to get everyone off and safe. “Yes, and carbon forms agree. Just go.” She ignored Jo as he greeted Alex and Winn while passing into the portal when a large ship appeared above them. “Winn, that is a big spaceship. Go!”

Mon-El half pushed Winn through the portal, his eyes on the ship. “Crap.”

“Supergirl!” a girl screamed and they looked over to see Izzy had been caught by one of the alien guards. “Please help!”

“Izzy!” Kara rushed off for her without a moment’s thought.

“No, no, wait!” Mon-El tried to shout, tried to reach out and stop her but she was too fast.

“Here,” Alex muttered, pulling out a small device from her pocket. “Let's hope this thing works.”

Mon-El flinched away when Alex threw the device at the ground, setting off a bright explosion that had him gasping as he felt a rush of energy pass through him. “What was that?”

“It's a yellow sun grenade. Little taste of home.”

Mon-El’s eyes were fixed on Kara as she proceeded to fly and take out the ship with heatvision. “Nice…”

Kara quickly threatened the guard to release Izzy and hurried the girl to the portal. “Let's go. Go, go, go! Go through.” She looked at Mon-El and Alex as the two moved through it, with her close behind, using her heat vision to destroy the control panel back on Earth, stopping anyone else from following. She turned as others began to clap for her, making her smile. She made her way over to Izzy, hugging the girl quickly. “Oh, I'm so glad you're ok,” she murmured, before turning to face her sister and hugging her too. “Hey, thanks for the recharge.”

“No, it was all this guy's idea,” Alex waved her off, gesturing to J’onn who was standing in front of another group of DEO agents.

“I couldn't make the trip myself,” he replied. “So I thought I'd send a little sun along. Welcome home, Supergirl.”

“Thanks, J'onn,” Kara murmured as she hugged him as well. 

They all looked over when an exaggerated sniffing noise sounded to see Jo looked quite confused. “Earth smells funny. Always smell like this?”

Kara and Mon-El burst out laughing at that, though Mon-El’s laughter faded quickly when Kara easily turned and hugged him too. 

“Are we letting everyone know now?” he whispered in her ear, hesitating to hug her back just a moment before tentatively setting his hands on the small of her back.

“Not just yet,” she spoke quietly in return. “But…friends can hug, especially after an adventure like that.”

“Right,” he nodded, hugging her tightly.

Alex had to shake her head at them, a smile on her face. Kara had spoken to her about wanting to keep things quiet for the moment…but she might have to talk to Kara about HOW she was planning to do that. Especially when she was hugging Mon-El FAR longer than she would for “just a friend.”

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

“Celebratory drink?” Alex asked as she plopped down on a barstool next to Mon-El in M’gann’s bar, reaching out to take his drink from him and take a sip…only to grimace when she realized it was definitely NOT alcohol. 

“Club soda,” Mon-El had to smirk at her reaction. That was what she got for trying to steal his drink. 

“Must be an alien thing,” she muttered, thinking about how Kara favored the drink too. She shook her head and looked at Mon-El. “What was it you wanted to talk to me about?”

She’d been about to head out on a date with Maggie when she’d gotten a text from him to meet him at the bar, if she had time, because he wanted to talk to her about Kara. And really that was ALL she needed to hear to call Maggie and warn she might be late. She loved her little sister and if Mon-El was about to dump her…

“Kara is reckless.”

Alex blinked at that, it wasn’t exactly how she’d pictured the conversation to start.

“I don’t mean it in a bad way,” he rushed to continue. “It means she’s passionate and she wants to make a difference as fast as possible. But…it’s dangerous. For anyone, to be like that. Believe me, I know.”

Alex had to nod at that, given what she knew of Daxam, his people seemed pretty reckless themselves. But she could also understand how Kara’s actions could come across to others. “She’s a hero. She’s invulnerable. She can afford to be reckless.”

“But that’s just it,” he turned to her. “She can’t afford that. When we were on Slavers’ Moon, we had no powers, and it was like that didn’t even register with her. She went through all of it acting like she still had them, like she couldn’t be hurt, and that…that scares me Alex.”

Alex blinked again. “Are you drunk?”

Mon-El scoffed at that. “I haven’t touched alcohol since Kara asked me not to. And I don’t think there’s enough alcohol on this planet to get me drunk enough to have this conversation with you so I figure I should just do it sober. Like ripping a bandanna off…”

“Bandage off,” Alex corrected.

“Yeah that.” Mon-El sighed. “I care about her Alex, but I worry about her so much. That one day she’ll go up against an enemy, too overconfident, and she’ll be hurt worse than the sun-beds can heal. I keep seeing it happen, over and over. She gets so caught up in this “being a hero” thing that she doesn’t even see that she isn’t as invulnerable as she claims.”

“Are you trying to dump my sister?” Alex demanded, crossing her arms at how criticizing he sounded.

“No,” he told her, not even phased by the threat in her voice. “I…” he huffed, trying to find the words. “I want to help her. I…I want to make sure that she’s protected. And before you say “She’s Supergirl, she doesn’t need your protection” remember she’s also KARA, your sister, and tell me you don’t want to protect her from everything and anything either.”

Alex was silent at that. It HAD been her gut reaction to defend her sister, to defend Supergirl as being strong enough to not need help. But he was right. Supergirl was just one part of Kara Danvers, her SISTER. And she was the big sister, it was her job, almost literally, to keep her little sister safe, to keep Supergirl safe.

“So what are you saying exactly?”

“I want to be a hero, like Kara,” he began. “But I’m just…I’m not sure I can bring myself to be a hero for the people like she is.”

Alex nodded slowly. “You want to be a hero so you can protect her out on the field.”

Mon-El made a small scoffing noise. “All I have going for me is speed and strength. I’m not about to ever be on Kara’s level with all her powers. I won’t be able to do all the things she can or help all the people she could. But I CAN help HER. I can watch her back, so that she can keep doing all that, and helping all those people, without getting as injured as she does.”

Alex eyed him a moment. “Why are you telling all this to ME?”

“You joined the DEO to protect Kara, right?” he asked, not sure if he’d gotten the story correct. But Alex nodded. “And Kara is ok with that, right?” Another nod. “So…if I wanted to join this hero thing to protect Kara…she’d be ok with it too, right?”

Alex inhaled deeply as she finally understood why he’d called her. He wanted her advice, her opinion, not only on his plan to be a hero but his reasons for it, and what she thought Kara would do. A part of her wanted to take Kara’s likely stance, that he should be a hero because he wanted to be a real one, to help the people and the greater good, but a very large part of her knew that would be hypocritical. She had joined the DEO because of Kara, to protect her first before she’d thought to protect the Earth. If Mon-El wanted to be a hero because he wanted to protect Kara before he thought to protect the Earth, she couldn’t fault him for it.

But Kara would.

“I think she’ll be angry if that’s your reason,” Alex began. “But I don’t think anyone else would be. And I think, eventually, she’d get over it, maybe even be ok with it.”

“Really?”

“If you can watch her back, she won’t have to worry as much and can concentrate on helping more people and helping them faster. I think she’d start to realize that, it might take time, but she’d get there.”

“Ok,” Mon-El murmured, nodding to himself as he took another sip of his soda.

“I’m sorry,” Alex blurted after a moment, making him look at her confused. “I understand why Kara didn’t want us to know you were Daxamite when all this started,” she explained. “We read about them and they sounded horrible, and we just thought you’d be horrible too. I think we still thought that, deep down, and that’s why we didn’t really…fight…to clear you when Kara went AWOL. A part of me did think you had something to do with it, because you had access to her so freely. Even if that was a small part, I shouldn’t have ever let it come out. Because I’ve seen you, Mon-El, I’ve heard Kara talk about you, I’ve seen you around her, and I know you’d never do anything to hurt her. And hearing you talk just now, wanting to be a hero, keep Kara safe? You really aren't anything like Kryptonians believed Daxamites were and it was wrong of us to do that to you. So…I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to…”

“I do,” Alex cut in. And she did. Because she knew what Mon-El was doing, he was going to protect Kara, even with his own vulnerabilities to lead, he was determined to watch Kara's back. And if that didn't prove how much he cared for her, and how good a person he was, she didn't know what would. He deserved an apology, from her, on behalf of the DEO, just he deserved one. “I’m high ranking in the DEO, I should never have let them hold you so long when there was such little evidence against you. I should have vouched for you more. I’m sorry we did. You did nothing to lead us to believe you’d hurt Kara and we still treated you like a suspect, because you were from Daxam and Kara was from Krypton. And that was wrong. It won’t happen again.”

Mon-El nodded. “Thank you,” he offered, before trying to lighten the mood, understanding Alex was really sorry about that incident. “But next time you all lock me away, I think I deserve some Zakkarian Ale.”

Alex chuckled. “Deal.”

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Mon-El peered around the doorway of Kara’s loft, peeking into the room and smiling when he saw Kara sitting on the couch. “Hey,” he called, making her look over at him with a smile. “Got you something.”

Kara sat up on the couch, the red blanket she’d been lying under falling off slightly as she turned to face him. “Pizza?”

Mon-El laughed. “No, no…club soda!” he presented her with the bottle of it, leaning in to steal a small kiss from her in the process. “I found it! You look cozy and comfortable.” He joined her on the couch, lifting half the blanket to sit on the other side of it with her. “You still feeling betwixt and between?” 

“No, no, I…” she leaned across the couch to give him a peck, “Feel amazing.”

He smiled at that, pleased. “Good, good.”

“Are YOU ok?” she asked.

“Me? Fine.”

She gave him a look that clearly told him his voice was going flat again. “I’m sorry if being on Slavers’ Moon upset you,” she offered, trying to lead him into talking to her without prying the information out of him. “I should have waited for the DEO first. Anything could have been on the other side and…”

“You think I’m upset about being on that planet?” he had to ask. “Because I was, don’t get me wrong. The last thing I needed was a reminder of just how much I failed my people in not being able to do anything for the slaves but…”

“I didn’t mean to bring up the slavery,” she winced at the memory, hoping she hadn’t sounded accusing to him.

“I’m not that upset about Slavers’ Moon,” he told her. “We saved those humans, in the end. Even if I couldn’t free my people, at least we freed someone.”

Kara gave him a small smile for that, before she realized something more. “You were upset before we even got to the planet. And don’t lie!” She pointed at him mock accusingly but with a teasing tone. “You said we’d talk later. It’s later.”

He sighed. “I just…I wasn’t comfortable with talking about just ONE god.”

“But there’s…”

“I know. Krypton worshiped Rao, monotheism. But Daxam was polytheistic. And yeah, I get that Earth is like 70 percent monotheistic, but I’m not. And I don’t think I ever will be. I’m probably part of the 25 or 30 percent that are polytheistic," before all this happened he might have even counted himself in the 5 percent that didn't believe in any god or gods at all, but that changed. "It won’t change. And I…I just didn’t like talking about a single god. That’s not who I am.”

“It was for an undercover…”

“I get that,” Mon-El repeated. “But even for that, I don’t want to pretend I worship just one god. It’s…it’s one of the few things I have left Kara.”

Kara was silent a moment as she thought about his words, absorbed them. She hadn’t really thought it was that comment that had set him off before. But, then again, she hadn’t thought that he cared that much about his gods. He had never seemed overly religious in her memories, hardly ever really brought up anything religious now…

But she could see that not talking about it didn’t mean the same thing as not believing in it. Some people believed in ghosts, but that didn’t mean they talked about it all the time. She shouldn’t have assumed that about him and, really, she didn’t even NEED to correct him when speaking to the doctor.

That had been a gut reaction on HER part, because SHE was monotheistic. She realized that now, she hadn’t even considered why he’d said “gods” just that she had to correct him with “god” instead. She didn’t have to. There WERE polytheistic religions on Earth, no one would really bat an eyelash if someone said “gods” instead of “god” nowadays. It was such a small thing, but she’d shut him down and forced him to go along with her religion without realizing it.

And she felt terrible now. She’d thought he was just being an alien and getting it wrong because most humans just believed in one god as well. But really he’d just been himself, been Daxamite, believed in multiple gods. And who was she to try and “correct” him about there being just one god when it wasn’t her right or her place. 

“I’m sorry,” she offered him. “I didn’t mean to take that from you. That was my fault.”

“It’s ok,” he tried to smile at her, but she could see that it was something still very sore for him. “Next time we go undercover, we’re going to be polytheists though.”

She laughed at that. “Deal.” It was the least she could do for her slip. Maybe they could make a thing out of it whenever he went with her on investigations. They would alternate. It was something to consider at least. “Are you less upset?”

He smiled at her this time, a genuine one. “I’m better.”

“Good.”

“In fact…I…I wanted to talk to you about something too.”

“Anything.”

He wanted to bring up her recklessness on Slavers’ Moon, he wanted to ask her why she hadn’t even considered herself while they were there. How she’d acted and reacted, it went beyond selflessness or even recklessness, it bordered on uncaring and he wanted to talk to her about it…but they’d just gotten to a good and understanding place and…

Alex’s words kept coming back to him. That Kara likely wouldn’t be happy with his reasons for wanting to be a hero revolving around keeping HER safe over the humans. Alex wouldn’t fault him for wanting to do, or being able to do, what she couldn’t in the field. But Kara would.

Maybe if he could just BE a hero, show her how he could help watch her back, help keep her safe, before he actually TOLD her his reasons, she’d have a better reaction? If he could just prove that his reasons were justified before he spoke? If he brought her actions on Slavers’ Moon up now, she would NOT take it well. She would get angry at him for thinking she was weak or that she was reckless or arrogant or anything else and he did NOT want to fight right now.

He didn’t want to do anything that would make her push him away as her partner or her boyfriend. 

For now, for now he’d keep quiet about his concerns. He’d keep a closer eye on her in the field, he’d work hard to be a hero that she could trust to watch her back, and then he’d talk to her then. Because he’d have more evidence and proof to use if she tried to argue with him. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that though, that his presence there would help temper her “dive in first” mentality.

“Back on Slavers’ Moon, watching you with those people, how you helped them…it made me think about…about being a hero.”

Kara blinked. “You want to be a hero?”

He nodded. “With a name and an outfit, maybe a cape.”

She chuckled a little. “You want the suit.”

“Oh yeah,” he teased back. “But more than that…I want to help you keep the world spinning.”

It was the closest he could get to telling her his reasons without actually SAYING them. He could help her keep the world spinning by helping keep HER spinning. She wanted to protect the world, he could protect her so she could.

“You were right,” he continued. “We were both spared for a reason, and I think I’ve found my reason.”

He had always been the one to look out for her and protect her on Daxam. That was the only thing he could think of now for why HE was spared out of all his people. He had landed on Earth, in HER city, the same age as HER, with similar abilities and strength. He was the only Daxamite he knew of that had been even the slightest bit protective of a Kryptonian. And this Kryptonian was a superhero, she was saving others but there was no one to save her from things she couldn’t see or didn’t see or even from things inside herself. Maybe THAT was his purpose, he was spared to protect HER.

“You're gonna have to listen to me,” she started to grin, thinking about all the times she’d had to “listen” to him on Daxam because he was the prince and in charge.

He laughed. “I will listen to you. BUT…” he added, pointing a warning finger at her. “That’s a two way street. You want me to listen to you, you need to listen to me too. I know you have more experience being a hero, but maybe I have experience in different things that could help too.”

“Fair enough,” Kara agreed, before smiling. “Seal it with a kiss?”

Mon-El laughed and leaned in to kiss her. “I’ve created a monster,” he murmured against her lips, giving her a kiss for each word.

Kara playfully shoved him away. “You know, it’s funny,” she remarked leaning back on the couch to smile at him. “You got me something and I got you something, too.”

“You got me something?” he blinked at that.

“Yeah,” she turned and picked up a small magazine from her coffee table, the next in the series he’d been reading in the office along with that same edition.

“Oh wow!” he mockingly exclaimed. “For me? My very own?” He chuckled as he took it from her. “Can I ask why?”

“You’re my boyfriend and girlfriends and boyfriends get each other things all the time?” she offered with a shrug. Before smiling at how he beamed at just the mention of their relationship. “Today you were a little more Gallant and a little less Goofus.”

“I’m starting to tip the scales there,” he remarked. “Would it be gallant or goofus to thank you for my gift with a kiss?”

“Depends how good the kiss is,” Kara teased, her face flushing just to get the words out, not used to flirting or being flirted with.

Mon-El grinned. “Challenge accepted,” he cheered, before leaning in and claiming her lips in a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really wanted Alex's take on his reasons to be a hero. I feel like she'd be the sort where, if she had their powers, she would do the exact same thing and use them to keep her sister safe out on the field. I feel like she'd support Mon-El's reasons because they match her own wishes, that someone look out for Kara. J'onn can't always, he has to head the DEO and be in charge, but another "superhero" out there could :-) I also feel like her hearing him talk about it, knowing the risks more than he does, she'd really feel guilty for that "suspect" time when Kara was missing :-)
> 
> Mon-El will still have his concerns about how Kara handles herself and it will lead to a confrontation with her about his reasons to be a hero, but that will be in a later chapter ;-) All I can say is, Mon-El holds his ground a lot more against her now that they've been friends longer and in a relationship longer ;-)


	29. Superhero-In-Training

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the lack of updates the last few days, work and life got crazy busy which left little time to write :-(

Mon-El was nearly bouncing on his toes as he stood beside Kara in one of the DEO’s training rooms, staring at a small obstacle course she’d set up for them to continue his hero training. He liked to think he was getting used to Earth, the TV shows and books he’d been reading had really helped him integrate and Winn had also been a very big source of information for him as well. Kara was often so stressed and busy with work and Supergirling that he found himself at the DEO when she was out and about. They talked a lot and he was getting better at Earth customs. From what he knew of his powers, there wasn’t much Kara could teach him about how to use them around humans, it was an internal thing. HE had to control his strength and only he could do it.

It was all about being gentle, using the lightest pressure and grip, avoiding people who seemed like they were about to touch him too hard and could hurt themselves, and pretending he was reacting to other touches or injuries. It was all on HIM to do that, not Kara.

This, however, was about the both of them, about Kara teaching him how to actually fight and ways to work out a strategy, how to be a hero. The obstacle courses were meant to teach him to think on his feet and how to be quick and smart. He had, admittedly, struggled with that but he was doing better, improving every day and he was sure he was getting close to the point where he’d at least be able to assist Kara in the real world.

That was his goal, just to be beside her. Even if she never let him actually be a hero, he needed to BE there for her, to watch her back when she was distracted.

“You ready?” Kara spoke as an alarm began to blare, signaling the start of the trial.

He smirked. “Born ready.”

And with that the two of them took off, racing towards the cardboard cutouts of their victims at the end of the room, jumping over obstacles, ducking down from laser blasts by flying robots. Just as they reached the end, they turned and began to block the laser beams, protecting the cardboard cutouts. Kara turned and used her heatvision on the robot, stopping it.

He wasn’t too sure why Kara ran the courses with him if it was supposed to be about HIM learning to be a hero. He couldn’t really see if he had what it took if she took out the enemies before he could try himself.

“Impressive,” he remarked, when two more cutouts popped up halfway back down the course. “Wow, you really nailed Hank’s disapproving non-smile,” he added, eyeing the one cutout of J’onn.

Suddenly a second flying robot appeared. He quickly ran for it and jumped up, dodging a laser beam and punching the robot away as it fired one last blast. He landed on the ground and punched the air, pleased he’d managed to destroy the robot.

“End simulation,” Kara called out.

“Nailed it!” he cheered as he headed back to her, trying to jump over the main obstacle once more and nearly toppling to the ground in a clumsy moment.

“Hey, careful,” Kara called, moving to help him up.

He squeezed her hand as he stood. “I’m ok.”

Kara gave him a small smile at his smug look and pointed behind him. “Uh Mon-El?”

He turned around to see that, while he’d been focused on stopping the robot, it had fired at the second cutout of a random woman and knocked her head off. “Mistakes were made,” he agreed. “But it's our fewest cardboard fatalities yet. And,” he turned back to her. “Out there, the chances of someone just standing there instead of running for cover are slim so…”

“I think you’re right,” Kara reassured him, getting his point. This WAS the fewest cardboard fatalities they’d had, and he was right. Out on the streets, the first instinct of people was to get away from the danger, not just stand there with a smile like the cutouts did. And if anyone saw something flying at them, they would likely dodge it or try to move out of the way, again not just stand there.

“Really?” Mon-El smiled, taking her other hand, it was just the two of them in the room so no one could see them being “coupley” as Kara had called it a few times.

“I mean, you're dedicated,” Kara began. “You punch really hard…”

“Not as hard as you,” Mon-El teased. “Yet.”

She scoffed. “Ever.” She gave him a playful smile at that, a part of her hoping one day he might just punch as hard as her, so curious as to what his strength as a Daxamite on Earth might be compared to hers. “But…” she added, growing serious. “When you deflected that laser, you hit this girl. And while a majority of humans WILL flee the scene some DO freeze up. You really have to be careful about those sorts. What is our number-one rule as heroes?”

“Protect the people,” he answered promptly. It was something Kara had said often about this, making sure he knew that the people came first. 

If he perhaps stretched the intent behind that to include KARA in his category of “people” well, it really would only benefit the people in the long run. Kara was SO determined to protect them that she didn’t seem to realize she needed protecting sometimes too. Just someone to watch her back. And if he could do that, he still would be protecting the people. Keeping Kara safe kept them safe.

“Yes,” Kara agreed. “Are we clear on the whole protect-citizens-above-all else thing?”

He rolled his eyes a little at that. “Yes. Clear. Super clear. Supergirl clear…” he trailed off when she gave him an odd look. “I'm just kidding. No, seriously, we're clear. Let's do it again.” He gestured back at the simulation, wanting to prove that he COULD actually protect someone from danger.

He really wanted to be able to do that. He needed to know that HE could protect someone, even if it was Kara, from danger or this would never work.

“Well, I think you might need to change,” Kara remarked, gesturing to his shoulder and leading him to look down at where it was torn just inches down. She nodded to herself, relieved to see he hadn’t been harmed by the lasers. “Oh I think it's time.”

Mon-El gave her a look. “Superhero time?”

Kara nodded. “The next threat that comes up, it’ll be you and me.”

He smiled and tugged her a little closer. “I really like that. You and me.”

“I do, too.”

“And, to celebrate…” He glanced around in a show of how they were alone. “Can I kiss you?”

Kara laughed lightly as she leaned in to kiss him first. He deserved it, he’d worked hard and he had earned a little in-the-DEO treat.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Mon-El was very excited as he stood in the main control room of the DEO with Kara, already in her Supergirl suit, being briefed on who this “Livewire” person was. Kara had gotten a call from Alex in the middle of their training and literally flew out of the room without another word. He’d tracked down Winn to ask who “Livewire” was as that was the only name he’d been able to pick up with his superhearing. All Winn had really said was that she was a very, very sore spot for Kara, an arch-nemesis of a kind, and someone that really got under Kara’s skin. Just seeing how Kara reacted, how quickly she’d raced out of there, and how on edge and off she was upon her return made him all the more eager to deal with this threat. 

She was clearly someone that was upsetting Kara a great deal and he wanted to help her deal with this in any way he could. Helping to get her back behind bars would be a great first step to that.

“Lady and gentlemen,” Winn announced as he walked in with all the information he had on the woman thrown up on the main screens. “The one, the only, Livewire. Who knows what havoc she will wreak when she resurfaces. Maybe she'll turn all her girlfriends evil again. I don't know! We're talking about full on rats in the attic here, people. Except the rats are electrified and the attic is on fire. Behold, ye mighty, and despair.”

“Yes!” Mon-El cheered, “Yes, I am so ready to kick some non-cardboard crazy. Am I right?” He reached out to Winn for a high-five, which he’d come to learn was a good thing on Earth. “Let's do this!

“Hey,” Kara cut in. “This is serious.”

Mon-El inwardly groaned as he sighed, trying to tame his excitement. “Very serious.”

“Livewire is despicable,” Kara continued. “I mean, she never should have been in a human facility. All of the human parts of her are gone. She should have been here, where we could make sure that she didn't get out!”

Mon-El winced as Kara’s grip on one of the equipment pieces near her went too tight and she broke the corner off of it. He was starting to see that this really WAS a serious thing. Kara wasn’t reacting like he’d ever seen her react to a criminal before. This really was getting to her and alarming her…which made him all the more determined to help her in this. 

He may not know Kara as well as some on Earth did, but he was a good observer. He noticed things about people and from what he knew and saw of Kara…this was not going to end well. She was angry and she was frustrated and he knew that when she got like that, she became a little obsessive. Livewire would be her only concern, nothing else would matter but getting the woman back and quickly. Which meant Kara’s recklessness and tendency to run in without a plan was going to skyrocket. (Skyrise? He wasn’t sure of the word.)

This was not going to be a good day for Kara and her tensions and temper were going to be high. She was going to be blinded to things and not listen to advice and go out there with guns blazing. He honestly wouldn’t be surprised if, for all her talk of “protect the people first” she instead gunned for Livewire instead. He really needed to be there beside her and make sure her one-track mind didn’t get her killed. 

From what Winn had said, Kara had a weakness for electrical attacks and Livewire was nothing but electricity.

“Uh, what is that?” Kara’s voice cut through his thoughts as she awkwardly tried to play off her bout of anger. “A toy?”

“No,” J’onn remarked as he joined them. “It's expensive.”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Mon-El called quietly as he stepped closer to Kara, reaching out a hand to take hers, hoping it would come across as more “friendly” than not-platonic to the others. “We've got this. You've already defeated her twice. What's the big deal?”

“The deal is that she brings death and destruction,” J’onn stated.

Mon-El was about to remark about how that wasn’t helping when Alex’s voice called out behind them. “J'onn? Need you for a minute.”

Kara frowned as J’onn turned to go. “How's she doing?”

Winn could only sigh. “Not good.”

“Maybe it’s because you all locked her away,” Mon-El remarked, thinking about M’gann trapped in one of the cells, on J’ONN’s orders, one of his own people. Whether she was Green Martian or White, he’d been around M’gann enough to know she really was a good person. She’d risked her life and freedom to save J’onn when Alex had begged her, knowing she might be exposed for what she was. She did it anyway, to save his life.

“Hey…” Winn began.

But Mon-El shook his head. “Your cells are for criminals right? Who committed crimes on EARTH. Name one crime M’gann committed on Earth and I’ll apologize.”

They couldn’t say. Because even the fight ring she’d been in couldn’t be used as an argument when they hadn’t gone after any of the other fighters.

“I’ve been on that side of things,” he reminded them. “You cut her off from everything and everyone and wonder why she had a breakdown?” He scoffed. “If I wasn’t used to isolation, I would have cracked too.”

Kara frowned at that, reaching out to touch his arm and lead him away. “What do you mean by that?” she asked, not wanting to bring up what could be a deeply personal thing for him around others but too concerned to just let it slide.

“Nothing,” he glanced away. “I was just saying it’s not fair to do that to M’gann and…”

“No,” she cut in gently. “It’s not nothing. What do you mean about being used to isolation? You were the prince and…”

“And my parents were the king and queen,” he reminded her. “I might have been a…a frat boy as the humans would call it, and party and surround myself with people but that didn’t mean I wasn’t out from under their thumb. They were my parents, they had a particular thrill in sending me to “time out.”” He used air quotes on that.

But Kara heard the message loud and clear. “They locked you away?”

“And not like a kid being sent to their room,” he muttered. “Look, I really don’t want to think about things like that. It was in the past, it’s gone now, they’re gone, they can’t imprison me anymore.”

“Mon-El…” Kara let out a sad breath. “I’m so sorry. If I’d known…”

“You would have tried to get them not to lock me away as much as they have,” he finished for her. “But that’s ME, Kara. What about all the other aliens that were innocent and locked away? Like M’gann.”

Kara bit her lip as he put that in perspective for her. She’d gone along with what the DEO stated they should do with suspects and prisoners…but that wasn’t being very true to her “supergirl” reputation to do that. M’gann had done nothing on Earth to warrant being put in that cell. Whatever crimes she’d done on Mars, were on Mars. And while J’onn was a Martian and had every right to see to her punishment for crimes as one of her people, he had NO right to use Earth resources to do it.

“I’ll talk to J’onn,” she promised him. “I’ll find a way to get M’gann released. And I’ll talk to Alex about the holding policies. It’s not going to help aliens come together or come out in the open if there’s the threat of cells everytime one of them acts inhuman.”

Mon-El offered her a small smile at that. “Thank you,” he told her. “I get that you’re a hero here, Kara, and that you protect the people. But sometimes it feels like you focus more on protecting the humans than your fellow aliens.”

Kara fell silent at that, a little hurt that he would say such a thing, but…thinking about it, unable to really argue against it. Often it was an alien attacking the humans, which lead to them needing defense, but there were aliens out there being threatened in different ways and she hadn’t exactly stepped up as much to help THEM. 

But she could do that now, she could start with the DEO and how they handled things alien related. It was a step in the right direction at least.

“Maybe I can protect the humans and you can protect the aliens,” she offered, not serious, but trying to lighten the mood. “Division of labor.”

Mon-El chuckled at that. “And how would we handle the humans with alien power like your friend up there?” He nodded at the screen with Livewire’s picture still up.

Kara smiled at that. “Together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think Mon-El's view of the DEO is pretty grim, despite apologies for his treatment by them. He sort of sees Kara working with them and going along with things they do and not actively fighting against it which, I think, is coloring his opinion on who she fights for more. But we're getting closer to Livewire! I'm very excited :-)


	30. What It Takes to be a Hero

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty sure my job is killing me :-( Apparently the managers fired one of my coworkers (admittedly, not the greatest worker who constantly ignored the policies of our little cafe and constantly didn't show up to his shifts) but they didn't bother to find coverage for his shifts before they did that. So the last week and most of this week we've been down a person. And it has been ridiculously stressful to try and run a cafe with two people for 6 hours in the middle of the afternoon to evening, it sucks big time :-(
> 
> I wanted to apologize for the next few days/weeks. We're getting a new trainee to take his place which should help, but we're still down an actual cafe manager, which means we're down a person every single day and have been all summer, our busiest time besides December :-( September should be MUCH calmer than summer is once school and work and everything picks up for more people. My job should leave me feeling less drained than I am and I should be able to update back to how I used to, nearly every day. 
> 
> But for now, I can't promise as frequent chapters as I've been putting out. There may be more than a day or two breaks between chapters of different stories and I'm sorry for that. But the stories WILL be updated which is still good :-)

Kara wasn’t sure how she felt as she stepped into James’s office at CatCo, having gotten a call from him to talk about something. On one hand, James was a friend and she knew he’d never call her there to talk in the middle of trying to track down Leslie if it wasn’t important. But on the other hand, Leslie was still out there and the longer she was the more danger everyone else was in. She really should be out there looking for the woman. But, again, James knew how important that was so he wouldn’t have called her there for no reason.

“Hey,” he greeted, smiling as she entered his office. “Thanks for coming. I, uh, want to tell you something.”

“Yeah, me too,” Kara added, starting to pace as her nerves got the better of her. She couldn’t think of anything James could say right now that was so important he’d pull her away from her investigation just to “tell her something” especially when he didn’t seem all that concerned or serious about what he had to say. Which just left her feeling more frustrated that her time was being wasted. “I am losing my mind right now. Livewire is just out there roaming the streets, and I don't know where she is, or when she'll strike. I just know she's out there somewhere and she's going to hurt people.”

“The city is not defenseless, Kara,” James tried to reassure her, though there was an odd quality to his voice.

“I hate having a nemesis,” she muttered. “Clark always makes it look so much fun, like you have a deadly pen pal you see once a year. But having a nemesis is stressful!”

“Well, you're not alone in this fight. You have friends. You have help.” He hesitated a moment before straightening slightly, growing more serious. “And you're not the only hero in National City.”

“Yeah,” Kara had to admit, taking a breath to think about that and starting to smile. “That's a good point.”

“Yeah?” James began to smile as well, thinking about the only other hero in the city, Guardian, and if Kara was reacting like that, with clear ease, then that HAD to be a sign she was coming around and accepting that the masked stranger was a hero and on the side of good.

“Yes.” She nodded, finally sitting down. “That is actually such a relief.”

James signed, equally as relieved as Kara. “I, for one, am relieved to hear you say that.”

“I mean you're right,” Kara continued. “I don't have to face her alone.”

“Absolutely not!”

“I have Mon-El.”

James actually had to shake his head at that, blinking at how…not in the direction he was expecting was this conversation going. “Mon-El?”

Was she serious? Mon-El? The man who hadn’t gone out there to be a hero since he’d gotten there? The man who seemed to cause more trouble and stress for Kara? The Daxamite who was selfish and arrogant and seemed more fond of drinking away his problems than actually facing anyone elses? THAT Mon-El?

Winn had told him a little about the man, about what Daxam was like according to the Kryptonian records. He wanted to know who this new alien was and why he seemed so close to Kara. All he knew was that he was apparently a friend from a long time ago, from a planet that orbited the same star as Kara’s had. But that was really as far as it went. He’d seen that the man was concerned for Kara and cared about her, but that didn’t exactly match up to what he was hearing from Winn about the man’s planet.

The guy had been on Earth MONTHS now and hadn’t shown any signs of being a hero, at least not from what HE saw of the guy.

“Yeah.” Kara gave him an odd look for his tone, for the incredulous expression he was taking on.

“Right,” he scoffed. “The, um Superhero kindergartener.”

Kara frowned at that, her mind racing back to when SHE had been the “superhero kindergartener” and James had been SO encouraging of HER. Everyone had to start somewhere and James was talking like Mon-El didn’t have what it took at all to be a hero.

“Yes,” she stated, her voice firm. “I have been training him.”

“And you're sure that's a good idea?” 

Kara wasn’t sure what to make of his question. Was he insinuating that Mon-El shouldn’t be a hero? Was he implying that Mon-El didn’t have what it took? Was he trying to say she was wasting her time? She didn’t know exactly what he meant by the question, but it was coming across like an insult, to her and to Mon-El. She had never been one to sit back when others insulted someone she cared about, and not only was Mon-El a friend but he was her boyfriend too now and she was doubley not about to let him get away with something like that.

Mon-El was trying SO hard to be better, a better person, a better human. She was learning so much more about his life on Daxam than she had as a child, she was learning so much about the MAN he was instead of just the prince she saw a handful of times. And he was someone worth knowing and worth putting her faith and time in. 

She tried to remind herself that James didn’t spend as much time around him as she did, or even as much time as Winn or Alex did. He didn’t work at the DEO, he couldn’t do that and run CatCo so he wasn’t around Mon-El as much, hadn’t gotten to know him as well. She really tried to keep that in mind, that James just hadn’t SEEN all that she had.

“Well, how often does someone with superpowers just show up?” she tried to play it off.

“Yeah, that's true,” James agreed. “But, um there's a lot more important things than having powers to being a hero.”

Kara nodded slightly, her mind drifting back to the aliens at the bar. They had powers but not all of them were heroes. And there were also heroes on Earth who were ordinary humans that did incredible things every day, like firefighters and policemen, even that one vigilante her cousin had told her about once who used his money and technology to fight crime even though he had no powers himself. 

“Of course, yeah, but…”

“Like wanting to make a difference,” James continued. “Or having the willingness to put yourself on the line for others.”

For a single moment, Kara was stunned at what James was saying. Wanting to make a difference? Mon-El had helped her free slaves on Slavers’ Moon. Even before that, she knew he wanted to end slavery on his planet but had been powerless to do it. A willingness to put himself on the line? Mon-El had gone out to fight that parasite by himself. He’d run back into a bar when he had no idea what had attacked the aliens inside it to help. He gave himself up to CADMUS because he thought he was saving J’onn’s life. 

In what world had Mon-El NOT proven himself to possess the qualities that James was describing. 

“Are you serious?” Kara couldn’t help but blurt out.

James shrugged. “I just think that Mon-El is the kind of the guy who thinks about himself first.”

“He’s from a planet where selfishness was encouraged,” Kara reminded him.

“So you see my point!” James pointed at her as though she were agreeing with him.

But she shook her head. “No. I don’t. If you were somewhere for 25 years and they thought you to be selfish, you’d be too! The fact that he DOES care about other people after being here only a few months? That’s amazing, James. He's come a really long way. And he's doing really well with training.” She frowned suddenly as she gave him a look, fairly sure that he HAD to have known some of the instances where Mon-El was nothing like he was being described as and another thought came to him. “Do you have something against Mon-El?”

“No,” James said quickly, a little too quickly, making her frown more. “I don’t,” he insisted. “I think he's a fun guy. He's just not a hero.”

Kara shook her head. “You don’t get to decide that.”

“And you do?” James shot back, before sighing at Kara’s offended look. That would be opening up a bigger can of issues than he wanted. The only reason he’d have to say Kara couldn’t be a judge of superheroing would be to say she wasn’t experienced enough and that was a big no-no right now. At this point, he really wanted her to be in a better mood for him to reveal his own secret identity to her and that was…not going to happen now. “Never mind. Just Forget it.”

Kara took a breath but decided to let it go for now. Mon-El would prove himself, she knew he would. Given what James thought of him, nothing she said would make a difference either. He’d have to see it to believe it. “You want to tell me something?” she offered instead. “I came in here and bulldozed you.”

“Um I just…” he sighed, shaking his head. “Honestly, I just wanted to catch up. It's just been so long.”

Kara gave him a hard look, about to go off on him again for “just wanting to talk” when Leslie was out there causing havoc…when the devil herself appeared on one of the monitors behind James’s desk. “James…”

“Seriously, Kara, I'm fine…”

“No!” She stood up quickly, pointing at a news report about new Livewire information. “James!”

He stood and spun around, taking a moment to see the clip before they both looked at each other with a mutter of “I gotta go” before Kara rushed out of the room. 

Supergirl was going to be needed for this, she knew it…and maybe, it would be a good time for Mon-El to get his feet wet so to speak.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Mon-El was buzzing more than the electricity around him and Kara as they landed in a large warehouse area where Livewire was on the attack, a handful of cops trying to keep her contained. This was his first actual venture out onto the field as a “trained” superhero. It was different than when he’d faced the Parasite, back then he’d just done his best to distract the thing but really hadn’t had any idea what to do after that.

Kara HAD been a great teacher to him, they would talk more than just run obstacles. Even back at her loft he felt like he could ask her questions about different situations and she’d answer them with quite a few suggestions. He felt like he had a much better idea about what to do when he was facing an enemy now. Though, given how Kara was clearly unsettled by this Livewire person, he couldn’t see her actually letting him face the woman down. No, this one seemed much more personal to Kara than the other enemies.

Which, if he was being honest, worried him. He’d never seen her get so flustered over a criminal before and he was concerned that she would end up so fixated she’d miss things. He was happy to be there to help keep her safe from anything she didn’t notice though.

“Give it up, Leslie!” Kara called as they stood face to face with the very pale woman, electricity crackling from her hands. “We've done this before, the same thing always happens. I win. You lose.”

The woman, however, just smirked. “I'm not Leslie.”

Mon-El could see Kara’s eyes roll at that, as though she didn’t believe a word the woman said…until that expression morphed into straight confusion when they heard a crackling behind them and turned to see a black security guard stepping towards them…with electricity crackling around HIS hands. 

“…is THAT Leslie?” Mon-El had to ask, honestly not sure what was going on right now.

Kara didn’t seem like she knew what was happening either. She shook her head, her countenance growing serious as she looked between the two superpowered humans. “You protect the cops. I can handle these guys.”

Mon-El frowned at that. “What about you?”

“Don't worry about me. Just help them.”

Mon-El nearly huffed as Kara immediately took off after the two humans. He stepped like he was about to follow her before he turned and hurried after the cops. He hadn’t really seen much of Kara in combat, at least not much when she had her powers at her disposal, he had to trust that she COULD actually handle this.

He had wanted to be a hero so that he could help protect her, keep her safe…and if her lessons that the citizens always had to come first, she’d only be distracted if the cops were in danger. He would get them somewhere safe and then go help Kara.

He grabbed a door off of a vehicle, holding it up to block a bolt of lightning that the man sent at the cops. “Stay back!” he called out, not fully sure if he was talking to the cops to stay behind him, or to the man to keep away from them.

The man just smirked as Mon-El blocked another blast. “I'll see you in a minute,” he warned and disappeared in a flash of electricity.

“Supergirl, behind you!” Mon-El shouted, seeing the flash appear just a few feet away from where Kara had knocked the Not-Leslie back. He let out a breath of relief when Kara turned in time to avoid a hit and fight back. “Go with them!” He shouted at the cops, trying to get them back, behind some of the vehicles where they’d be safe. “Go, go, go.”

Mon-El spun back around when he heard a grunt to see that Not-Leslie had gotten a strand of electricity tied around Kara’s wrists like a rope. And Kara…she wasn’t breaking through it. It was like she couldn’t. He bit his lip for only a moment, because he could remember hearing that Kara was vulnerable to the electricity that Livewire used and he’d hoped that she’d considered that and adapted her way of fighting in order to combat that.

It seemed she hadn’t.

“Let me help you!” he called.

Kara let out another grunt as she struggled with the rope. “No. Stay with the cops!”

Mon-El looked behind him where the cops were hidden behind the vehicles, out of sight, out of the way, relatively safe and protected, and back to where Kara had been thrown across the room and landed on the ground with a pained noise.

“Screw it,” he muttered to himself as the Electrical man started to advance on Kara while she was down. He supersped towards the two and threw himself against the man, taking him down.

He barely heard the sound of a gate crashing and a motorcycle entering the room as the Guardian joined them. He could hear the man shouting at the cops to move, caught sight of them rushing for the now-open gate out of the corner of his eye, but he couldn’t focus on that, he needed to keep the man distracted, give Kara a fighting chance.

And with the Guardian there, clearly there was someone else to protect the others instead of him. HE could help Kara face the two superpowered humans and…maybe he could do more than just help her. From what Winn had told him of his time on Earth before he woke up, his body had absorbed electricity to heal himself. Would that work now? Would the electricity help him in the same way it would hurt Kara?

He grunted as the man shoved him back with more strength than a human should have and fired a bolt of lighting at him. He ducked down, using the car door as a shield and tried to redirect it away from himself. The door wouldn’t hold up that much longer. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was thinking about something Kara had said, that explosions were a very good distraction. And there were cars behind him, with gas, if he could redirect the blast at one of them, then it would explode and, hopefully, distract the two criminals long enough to get Kara free or give them a fighting chance.

He noticed too late that the Guardian hadn’t managed to get ALL the cops out, one was on the ground, seeming to have fallen…and the blast was heading right for him.

He was about to drop the door and superspeed over, to beat the blast and get the man out of the way, take the hit himself. But Guardian was already there, kneeling down with a shield out to take the blow.

Mon-El looked back to check on Kara and saw that the two others had disappeared into the lights above them as Kara had tried to trigger the fire sprinklers and trap them. They were too late.

“They got away,” he muttered, hurrying over to help her up. 

“Yeah,” she huffed, panting from the exertion.

And that was how Mon-El knew that this fight had certainly taken more out of her than she wanted to let on. She wasn’t normally THIS out of breath unless the aliens were stronger than her or actually HURTING her. 

He wanted to ask if she was alright, if she needed to head to the DEO to that yellow-sun bed, but Kara had already turned to him with a deep frown on her face.

“I told you to stay with the cops!”

“I'm sorry,” Mon-El returned, about to tell her that he’d tried to make them as safe as possible and SHE was the one who had needed his help just then more. When he glanced back to see that the fallen cop was knocked out…and so was Guardian. “Is he ok?”

They both hurried over to the two men, Mon-El checking the cop, who was thankfully breathing, and Kara to Guardian.

“James?”

Mon-El looked over to see that Kara had pulled the man’s helmet off, needing to see his face in order to x-ray vision him for injuries…and James Olsen was lying there in Guardian’s armor.

Kara did NOT look happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to focus a little more on Kara's reaction to James calling Mon-El not-hero material and also focus on Mon-El's thoughts/reactions when facing the not-Leslies. I have big plans for the confrontation scenes with Kara and I wanted them to be a chapter their own instead of tacked onto this one. There is...A LOT that I think Mon-El should have said to Kara and that she was being unfair about that he will not be afraid to say to her here ;-)


	31. Confrontations

Mon-El was the only one smiling as he stood in the DEO, watching as James was examined by Alex for any lasting injuries caused by the attack earlier. Winn was nearby, looking a cross between anxious and nauseous. 

“So cool,” Mon-El muttered, James having just explained how he and Winn had fixed up the motorcycle to handle Guardian’s extra armor. “I know I don't technically need a motorcycle, Jimmy, I am a very fast man, but I would very much like one. You know. Um…where would I…where would I find a motorcycle? Is there a superhero discount? Is there some cash…” He quickly trailed off when Kara entered the room, looking not at all happy.

Kara paused by a table, turning to face them. “It's a cool suit,” she remarked, pointing at James though her tone implied it was not quite as cool to her as she was making it out to be. “Yours?” She glanced at Winn pointedly for that.

Winn flinched and nodded, seeing that Kara had worked out exactly who had made James’s suit.

“I was going to tell you,” James began.

“I told him to tell you last night!” Winn offered as though it excused him from keeping the secret at all.

“I told you both weeks ago!” Alex huffed out.

Mon-El frowned as he looked between the three of them. He knew he wasn’t being completely honest about his reasons to be a superhero, but the fact that the others were keeping James being an actual “hero” from her seemed a lot more serious. In the long run, what did it matter anyone’s reasons for being a hero or how they went about it? But, also, being honest about actually BEING the hero or living that double life was probably a big thing.

Then again…how many people was Kara keeping her secret identity from whom she claimed were friends of hers. She’d told Winn, Alex knew, he was sure she’d probably told James…but Lena didn’t know, nor did Cat Grant, and probably a few other friends Kara had had in her life. Was it really THAT bad that James hadn’t told her? Or was it bad because he knew Kara’s identity and she hadn’t known his? How long had it taken Kara to tell James?

Earth was confusing, being a hero was confusing, all these things about hiding one’s self was making the situations much worse. Why did he have to be Mike Matthews and lie about everything he was just to fit in? Why did James have to be Guardian and lie about it just to stand out? Secret identities made things complicated.

His confusion, however, was greatly overshadowed by the look of utter betrayal and anger on Kara’s face as she reacted a much different way. “You ALL knew?!”

“Um…” Mon-El hesitated to speak. “I didn’t?” he offered, not sure if it helped or not but seeing how tense everyone was, he wanted to try and ease the uncomfortable feeling that had filled the room. “I thought James was a professionally handsome desk person.” He reached out to pat James on the back, but apparently the strained feelings were getting to him as well and he used a bit too much strength. “Sorry.”

“Um, Kara,” James cleared his throat. “This is between us. Not them.”

Kara hesitated only a moment at that, wanting to chew the others out for lying to her as well about something so dangerous and stupid. But gave in. “Yeah, you're right. Can we have a minute, please?”

Alex was the first to take the hint, hurrying to get out of there. “Yeah.”

Mon-El took a second longer, realizing Winn and Alex were eager to flee. “Oh, yes, yes.” He glanced over at Kara, hesitating at the door to send her a look, asking her silently if she would be alright.

Kara have him a brief nod which he returned and headed out of the room. Kara watched him go, before taking a deep breath and focusing on James. “I am calm. I am going to listen to you. I owe you that much. But you need to tell me why.”

“Because that thing that you feel?” James began. “That thing that makes you want to make everything better I feel that, too. And I always have. And I've tried so many different ways in my life to help people. Whether it's career or friendship. But it's just not enough. But this is. Now, look, I was never meant to be in Superman's shadow. Or yours. I am more me as Guardian than I've ever felt as James Olsen. Kara, we are the same.”

Kara shook her head at that, finally reaching her end with his little spiel. “No. We are not the same. You are a human. You're going to get yourself killed. One mistake. One human error, and you're gone. That's it. You don't get a strike, James. Not like me. Not like…”

“Mon-El?” James huffed, seeming to get as angry as Kara was sounding now.

Kara narrowed her eyes at his tone, her voice firm and hard as she answered with a resounding, “Yes.”

Because this was more than James was making it out to be. He wanted to be a hero? Fine, go become a police officer or an EMT or a firefighter. Take training courses, actually LEARN what to do to help people as a human. He had a blackbelt? So what. It would mean nothing against a bullet. And his suit had already proven to be vulnerable. 

It was different for her and Mon-El. Even with his lead allergy, out in the field he’d be prepared for anything, he’d be on edge and aware of the threat of bullets. And he was fast. According to Winn’s tests, he was faster than SHE was, he could easily dodge those bullets. Other than his allergy, he was invulnerable, just like her. He had the strength and speed and stamina to actually help and DO things. He could mess up but his speed would give him a chance to make up for the damage, she was sure of it. 

And she hated James’s tone when it came to Mon-El. He was doing his best on a strange world to try and fight and be a hero, and James was putting him down? The world needed more heroes and if Mon-El wanted to be one, what was the problem?

“Are you serious?” James scoffed, actually sounding angry now. “You saw him, he left civilians unprotected at that fight which I had to go back for.”

Kara rolled her eyes at his words. He talked about wanting to help people and yet he sounded now like he was complaining that he’d had to help the people instead of fight the criminal. 

“He’s still learning!” she defended. It was literally his first official time out on the field and for his first time, he did a damn good job! Was she as irritated as James that he’d not listened to her saying that she had things under control and came to help her. Yes. But he HAD protected the citizens as best he could. He’d been resourceful, he’d put himself in harms way to keep them safe. That was a step in the right direction.

“At what cost, Kara?” James continued to argue. “There was a cop that took a lightning bolt because “Mon-El's still learning.”” He mocked her words and Kara rolled her eyes at that.

There was a cop that took a bolt because James hadn’t been able to protect him either. SHE hadn’t been able to protect him for that matter too! And the cop was still alive. It was NOT all on Mon-El. 

“You don’t just become a hero overnight,” Kara stated, giving James a hard look. “Not even YOU did that. I certainly didn’t. We ALL made mistakes, people got hurt because I was still learning. That doesn’t invalidate his efforts!”

“He cares about himself, he cares about you, and that's what he fights for.”

Kara’s lips pursed at his words, she’d gotten that feeling too during the fight with the not-Livewires. He’d disobeyed a direct order to come and help her, he’d displayed more care and concern for her than the citizens. She hadn’t been blind to that, but that was something for HER to discuss with Mon-El, not for James to assume or throw in his face.

“But he can change,” she reminded him. He was still learning, he could still learn how to curb his instincts like that. “You can't. You are never going to be strong enough for this!”

“You don't get to decide who is a hero,” James stated, his voice cold. “And who are you to tell me how to be? Or who to be. I am meant for this.”

Kara shook her head. “If you don't stop, I'll stop you.”

James seemed like he was about to scoff at that. “You're welcome to try.”

Kara crossed her arms as James turned and strode out of the room.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Kara, now in her civilian clothing, hurried out of the DEO after Mon-El. “Hey!” she called. “Hey, wait.” As much as she wanted to ignore what James had said, she had seen how he’d reacted to her being in danger and this was something she needed to talk to him about and talk to him sooner than later. “We need to talk.”

Mon-El instantly stopped and turned to face her. “Yeah?” He started to smile, only for it to fall at how serious her expression was. “What's wrong?”

“I can't trust you,” Kara blurted out before wincing as she realized how it sounded. “On the field,” she added quickly. “I can’t trust you on the field.”

Mon-El blinked at that. “Me?”

Kara had never felt more torn as she did now seeing his completely confused expression, as though he genuinely had no idea what she was talking about or why. On one hand she wanted to apologize, because he really didn’t know what he’d done wrong and her words were truly hurting him, but on the other hand she wanted to be angry because he should know, it was serious and he hadn’t even noticed.

“You were reckless,” she tried to explain. “You left your post and because of you, someone got hurt.”

Mon-El shook his head. “I was trying to help you. They had you at their mercy, you weren’t able to fight them. I wanted to protect you.”

“Yeah, but I don't need that.” 

“Uh, you really did.” Mon-El frowned at this, had she really NOT seen how vulnerable she was at that moment? How close she’d come to being finished off by Livewire’s lackies? THAT was the reason he’d wanted to be a hero, to be her partner, because he could make sure she was never in a position like that where she could be hurt or killed just because she overestimated her power.

“No,” Kara argued. “What I need is a partner who will listen to me. I told you, I said protect the people, above all else and…”

“And I DID,” he fought. “You may not realize it Kara, but YOU are people too. You said protect the people, you are one of the people I want to protect.”

“I’m not just a “people,” I’m Supergirl. I can handle it. And I said protect the citizens too!”

“How is keeping you safe NOT protecting them? I keep you safe, you keep them safe, it works. You die out there and you really think National City will be able to handle all the crime that’ll come at it? It won’t. Not even with the DEO and…and Guardian and even me trying to help. National City needs YOU and if you get too badly injured that you’re out of commission, we’re all bolted.”

“What?” Kara’s anger was momentarily abated by the really odd turn of phrase.

“Bolted,” Mon-El stated. “When you’re in a really bad place. Up the creek, I’ve also heard it called that. But why is being up a creek a bad thing and…”

“Screwed,” Kara corrected almost instantly. “It’s screwed, not bolted.” Before she shook her head. “But that’s not the point! The point is Mon-El that if I tell you to do something, you need to do it and see it through fully.”

“So you’re my boss now?” Mon-El huffed. “I thought we were supposed to be partners. Partners don’t order each other to do things!”

“You aren’t my partner yet,” Kara fought back. “And at this rate you never will be! I’m trying to help you be a hero, Mon-El, so we CAN be partners. But if your heart isn’t in this…”

“My heart is very much in this,” he muttered.

But Kara shook her head. “Why are you working with me?”

“Because I should,” he answered. “You told me I had these powers and I should use them and I want to. I want to help you keep the world spinning.”

“What does that even mean!?”

“I want to keep you safe!” Mon-El finally snapped. “Ok? Are you happy? THAT’s why I want to be a hero. Because you’re so reckless and you overestimate yourself all the time and every single time I’ve seen you fight, YOU get hurt. And it kills me, Kara. It kills me to see you hurt. So yeah, I want to help you by keeping you safe. I keep you safe, I keep the citizens safe, isn’t that what you want?”

Kara shook her head. “That’s not what being a hero means.”

Mon-El rolled his eyes, scoffing. “You don’t get to decide who gets to be a hero or WHY they want to be one.”

Kara looked away at how he’d unintentionally mimicked James’s words to her.

“Were all the heroes you met on that other Earth heroes for the same reason?” he continued. “Is that bat guy you told me about a hero for the same reason as Kal? Everyone is different Kara, everyone’s lived different lives, and everyone does things for different reasons. I want to be a hero to keep YOU safe, so sue me. THAT is my reason to be a hero, but it doesn’t make me wanting to be a hero or working towards that any less than yours. We’re not all you, we can’t be. I can’t have the same reasons to fight as you and I don’t want to. I don’t want to be your little clone running around and doing your orders like a good little soldier. I got that enough on Daxam, I did exactly what my parents wanted or there was hell to pay. I had to kill parts of myself to do that, anyway I could, and I won’t go back to that. If I’m going to be a hero, it’ll be on my own terms, not yours.”

Kara blinked back the tears she could feel building at his words, at how impassioned he sounded and how much he was revealing in what he felt, what she was making him feel. She wanted to be angry, with him or someone, anyone but herself. And he was just making her feel guilty, because, like he was so many other times when he called her out on her more negative traits, he was right. It wasn’t her place to tell anyone why to be a hero or how to be one or to condemn their reasons behind it. 

But she was just…she didn’t want to deal with that right now, not so soon after James and her had fought. It was just…it was too much. 

So she turned and walked away.

Mon-El sighed behind her. “Where are you going?”

She didn’t even bother to turn around as she called back, hearing him following her, “I'm going to find Livewire and her soldiers because someone has to. And apparently I'm the only person in National City that appreciates how evil she actually is.”

“Well, let me come with you.”

Kara closed her eyes tightly at that. Even after how badly she made him feel just now, he STILL wanted to help. Even if it was just to help HER, he wanted to HELP someone. “No!” she half-shouted. “You've done enough superheroing today.”

Mon-El frowned as he watched her go, hearing the tears in her voice. He didn’t want to upset her or make her feel bad, but it was just…her words got to him. He understood she had more experience as a superhero, but it wasn’t her place to decide if HIS reasons for wanting to be one were “selfless” enough or “righteous” enough. They were his reasons, not hers, and they were reasons. He’d seen enough TV and movies to know not everyone had the same reasons to do things.

Some police officers joined because it was just what their family did, a lineage. Others wanted to help. Some just wanted the power and “above the law” feeling it gave them. Others just wanted the benefits and the, for some, “easy” lifestyle it provided if the trope of them sitting in cars and eating doughnuts was right.

That applied to heroes too. Some began because of vengeance, others to prevent a tragedy that happened to them happening to anyone else, some because they had the ability and therefore felt the responsibility to help, and others because they just genuinely wanted to help. There were scores of reasons to be a hero, and keeping the ones you loved safe seemed like a good reason to him.

It wasn’t Kara’s place to decide who got to be a hero and who didn’t or why they wanted to be and he felt like she needed to know that. He wasn’t sure if it was a Supergirl thing or a Kryptonian thing, but it wasn’t something that was her right to do. He hated calling her out on things he felt she did that were unfair or “superior” to others, but her words hurt him just as much as his seemed to hurt her.

They would move past this, he was sure, they would talk and find a way to understand each other. Maybe he would find more reasons to be a hero, maybe she would come to see his reasons were just as valid as hers were. Whatever the case, he knew they’d work it out.

Until then, he wasn’t about to just let her track down and face Livewire by herself. He’d still do whatever he could to keep her safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As much as I'm not too into James's hero-arc, I can at least appreciate that he was sort of right. It isn't Kara's right to define who should be a hero or why or if their reasons to do it are "enough" to qualify them as a hero. I fully understand she's worried for her friend, but if is James's life to do with what he wants and if he wants to be Guardian, he's entitled to that. Let the LAW take it into their hands if they feel his vigilantism is bad or not. As for Mon-El, I really wanted to parallel her issue with James somewhat. She thinks his reasons aren't right to be a hero, but, again, that's not her right to decide what the "right reasons" are :-)


End file.
